Equality

Lincoln Home National Historic Site

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It’s not his hat, but the small desk is where Lincoln wrote his early speeches. In the parlor downstairs, he held the funeral service for his son, Edward, and years later was invited to be the Republican nominee for President. In this house, he refined his political views and his arguments against slavery. Lincoln drew from his early childhood and boyhood experiences to become the most powerful advocate for freedom.

“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”

Abraham Lincoln in 1858

Lincoln understood the fundamental flaw in our country, that the ideal of equality did not apply to all and that Democracy and slavery are absolutely incompatible. He knew that most voters held racist views and did not want war to bring about immediate equality. So he was careful, not always the loudest abolitionist, and he opposed John Brown’s raid. But Lincoln was determined to end slavery, crafted a greater variety of effective, convincing arguments against slavery, introduced legislation and used his arguments in debates against Douglas.

“That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, “You work and toil and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.” No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.”

Final Lincoln-Douglas debate

Beyond the home tour, I found the neighborhood fascinating. One of the neighbors was a conductor on the Underground Railroad who gave the President-elect his inaugural ride to the depot. One was a Jewish family whose son helped build 5,000 Rosenwald schools to educate African Americans across the south. And one is currently being used as a local office for Senator Dick Durban. Springfield is all about Lincoln, and they have set aside 4 surrounding blocks of period houses, a short walk from the his Presidential Library and Museum. The museum there is modern, multi-media and includes an excellent map visualization of Civil War casualties over time. Explore the neighborhood, stay in an atmospheric B&B and eat at a fine restaurant. I did, at reasonable cost, and learned Springfield is on Route 66.

Lincoln Memorial

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Carl Sandburg reported that Lincoln felt that the important monument was not the marble one but the “more enduring one in the hearts of those who love liberty, unselfishly, for all men.” Lincoln gave his life to extend our ideal of liberty, “that all men are created equal”, to all men. To understand Lincoln is to recognize his cause: to reform the Union to include African Americans equally. To misunderstand Lincoln is to ignore that this condition is required to participate in our Union.

In addition to the Gettysburg Address, the other inscription here is from his Second Inaugural Address. “With malice toward none with charity for all” are only two thirds of what Lincoln said were necessary to achieve peace. His next five words must not be ignored: “with firmness in the right”. He spoke before the war ended, saying that slavery was an offense against God and that paying the cost for that debt in blood was true and just. Lincoln did not act out of hatred, but, because those who fought for slavery were so absolutely, profoundly and unacceptably wrong morally, he was right to go to war against them.

Those who deny freedom to others,
deserve it not for themselves

Abraham Lincoln

Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park

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The volunteer here deftly explained to me why the NAACP chose an elementary school in Topeka Kansas as part of their legal battle against segregation. The NAACP had tried various cases in other states, where white schools like John Philip Sousa Middle School in DC were superior and where black schools like Hockessin #107c in Delaware were inferior, but here in Kansas, the two schools were almost identical in terms of facilities. In fact, the teachers in the black school were more qualified, due to lack of opportunities elsewhere. Because of the superficial “equality”, the NAACP was able to argue that segregation itself, no matter how “equal”, is unfair and damaging.

It’s not that Kansas was all or always fair-minded. Violent racist agitators in Kansas both predate the Civil War and still exist today. At the time, racist policies were implemented either broadly by law in states like South Carolina or locally and selectively in states like Kansas. Perhaps because Topeka is the state capital, the schools here were segregated with substantially equal funding.

The key to the case was the Clark Doll test, where black children often identified with and preferred to be like a white doll rather than a black doll. The evidence made it to the Supreme Court, where it was cited by Chief Justice Warren as revealing the permanent damage done by legal segregation. One of the original dolls used in the test is here.

It is a privilege to be able to visit and feel connected to such an important site in the Civil Rights movement. The nation has many sites devoted to war, especially Civil War memorials, and I wish it had more sites devoted to the other kinds of fights we had for moral progress. The mural outside pictured above was done in 2018, and at the bottom local kids added their own colorful illustrations showing what Brown v. Board of Education means to them.