Ideas for Lincoln Programs
(considered at 40 North intake session)
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Lincoln Bicentennial Commission representatives Cheryl Kennedy and Barb Wysoki met with members of the arts community for an open intake session at the offices of 40 North | 88 West in early January 2008. Ms. Kennedy opened the meeting by discussing the Commission’s role in the upcoming Bicentennial celebration as one of facilitator and solicited ideas for arts-related activities and programs which might be developed.
The following ideas were considered by attendees at the session (to download this list, click here):
- Period performances and dance
- Documentary project on local Lincoln connections
- Podcast of local Lincoln events and sites
- Curate Lincoln exhibits in local institutions
- Costuming/needlepoint reeneactments
- Civil War reenactments
- Guided tour of local Lincoln sites for GPS systems
- A Lincoln film festival
- Collaborations with...
- C-U Craft Guild
- Sangamon River Music Festival
- Champaign County Fair (dedicate the fair to Lincoln?)
- writers groups at Red Herring, others
- noncredit courses at Parkland
- Brown Bag series at Springer Cultural Center
- Performances of period music in local retail shops.
- A suggestion for a 1st Night Celebration showcasing local artists, or adapting this idea for a Lincoln Birthday celebration
- American Music Month observances at UIUC (Scott Schwartz outlined his plans at the Sousa Archives, to feature children’s programs and concerts)
- Civil War roundtable discussion
- Funeral Train project to mark the trail that Lincoln’s casket traveled.
- Use of the Jefferson Building at Randolph and Hill Streets – a property where Lincoln stayed.
- Accessing the Looking For Lincoln program for resources
- School Lincoln essay and contest/adult reading group
- Symposium on Lincoln and Race
- Civil War oral histories/display
- Lincoln and Governance panel discussion
Bicentennial Commission ideas already under consideration:
- Exhibit at County Courthouse
- Grants made available by Urbana School District
- Working with Champaign County Sherrif on children’s program involving the Courthouse
Other suggestions:
Add Lincoln theme to these existing events:
- Sweetcorn Festival
- Champaign Street Fest
- Taste of Champaign
- 4th of July parade – with each participating float using a theme connected to the Lincoln era; award ribbons to winning entries.
- Champaign-Urbana Days — as avenue to collect oral histories of African American families (Champaign County African American history). Include period music, book talks, poetry —through the library.
New Lincoln events:
- Lincoln Day
- downtown merchants decorate their windows in the style of Lincoln's time
- music of the time
- food of the time
- street fair with costumed actors
- scavenger hunt for Lincoln memorabilia and places
- gospel sing, jazz and blues performances
If held in downtown Urbana, tie in with an exhibit at the Courthouse. If held in Champaign, utilize Westside Park (which dates near the time), the re-done band shell, and tie in with (Dan McCollum) idea of Lincoln giving a speech on the train — since the tracks are in downtown Champaign.
- An exhibit (or maybe just a one-sheet handout distributed during Lincoln Day) showing the positions of Lincoln and Douglas and then asking which candidate people would vote for today.
- An event to celebrate Lincoln’s signing of the law creating land grant universities.
- A steam train from Springfield to Danville with a stop at Tolono (where Lincoln gave his last speech in Illinois (Monticello RR Museum and the Missouri-Pacific RR).
- A production of "Our American Cousin" at the Virginia Theatre.
- Plays with African American themes, about African American life, featuring African American playwrights.
- Poetry readings featuring African American poets such as Phyllis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou.
- Lecture series on the struggle for freedom, to include the accomplishments of people like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and Martin Luther King.
- Program on the Underground Railroad.
- Virginia Movie Series to include movies “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Glory,” or other Civil War titles.
- Performance of a play that focuses on Lincoln, produced by local children's theater or other local company.
- Ongoing music programs featuring period music.
- Use of Urbana’s Joseph W. Royer Architecture District as a platform for the city's upcoming birthday party and also for Lincoln-related events throughout 2009.
- Event to recreate Lincoln's regular trip between Urbana and Danville on the Circuit Court trail. This could involve wayside markers, moving the scout marker at Homer Lake, and providing some historical context of the people who lived in the area at the time, what Lincoln's activities were like along the circuit, etc. It would be fun to let people, drive, hike/bike the trail from Urbana — have an event at Homer Lake and maybe end up at the Vermillion county museum.
- 8th Judicial Circuit bike ride — listed below as it was revised in 1853:
- Sangamon (Springfield and obvious Lincoln sites)
- Logan (Lincoln — Postville, Mt. Pulaski)
- Tazewell (Pekin)
- Woodford (Metamora, Eureka)
- McLean (Bloomington, David Davis home)
- Dewitt (Clinton)
- Champaign (Cattle Bank — Goose Pond Church, Urbana, Old State Road, Kelley's Tavern)
- Vermilion (Danville, Fithian Home, site of Lincoln-Lamon law office)
- Cemetery Walks set around the Lincoln era.
Cemeteries could be linked easily with the Lincoln era through the Civil War veterans buried there; also some cemeteries have Civil War Memorial statues.
Lincoln exhibits:
- The Bicentennial Commission is already planning a stationary exhibit at the Champaign Co. Courthouse. Perhaps there could be a traveling exhibit in locations along the Lincoln Circuit, encouraging each village, small or large town to create a Mini-Lincoln celebration with a version of the stationary exhibit as its focal point. Each exhibit could be sponsored locally, by the County, at the courthouse, historical society or museum, or the local public library.
- An exhibit in each participating city — possibly in the City buildings — comparing the town and its assorted artifacts (newspapers, roads, etc.) during Lincoln's time and today. Perhaps trace the route Lincoln took and show what he saw when he came to town versus what he would see now.
School focus:
- The Bicentennial Commission has asked Mary Muller to coordinate a committee of representatives from school districts in Champaign County to explore ways to commemorate the Lincoln Bicentennial.
- Elementary and Middle School teachers and High School history teachers could focus on Lincoln during the Bicentennial period. Superintendents of Education could prepare specific learning packets on Lincoln as a Lawyer and distribute them to both public and private schools within their region.
- Art, Drama and Music teachers could collaborate on plays and other performances related to historic events, trials, and the writings of Lincoln. Teachers could be encouraged to plan a day-long trip to the Lincoln Museum sometime during the Bicentennial year.
- For high school youth: a “game” explaining the decisions Lincoln faced — options that were (often strenuously) argued for and against by his advisors. Ask students what decision they would make, then compare with the decisions Lincoln actually made. Could be an interactive kiosk in the library, for the general public.Re-stage these historical arguments, with either children or actors playing the parts and then letting the students make the decision.
The Lincoln Image and Legacy:
- A look at how Lincoln's image and legacy is used: promoting tourism, advertising, being claimed by political candidates, parties, and the Civil Rights movement - how his image is used in film.
- Lincoln is, of course, considered a great leader. It would be interesting to look at why that is, what he did that is considered “leadership,” what choices he made and what mistakes he made (he is, after all, human.)
- Look at the “human” side of Lincoln’s life. Great leaders are always put so high on a pedestal; it's easy to forget that they were human. What idiosyncrasies did Lincoln have?
Lincoln-themed Activities/Stories:
- A weekly trivia/information section in the paper during the weeks leading up to the bicentennial.
- A mobile unit that would travel the circuit & visit schools
- Have all Champaign County grocery stores donate large brown paper sacks to schools and K thru 4th grade could be learning about Lincoln in their classrooms and then draw pictures of Lincoln at different stages, events, etc. in his life on the bags (with crayons). They then are given back to the store to use when customers request paper bags instead of plastic. It gets children involved plus pulls the adults in as they are getting these sacks when they are buying groceries.
- Depict the condition of the roads, - the “Lincoln Trail” - during that time.
- Could Lincoln have been crossing the rivers at various “fjords” on his travels, and if so, are they identified?
- Possibility of preparing a map of Lincoln’s travels, indicating the markers placed in his honor. This map could also include other early markers, such as the “Trail of Death,” the “Salt Kettle” on Rte 150 and others of interest that may be near the Lincoln Trail. A map of this sort could always be available to those interested in Lincoln and could provide a connection to each Lincoln site in Champaign County. (There’s a Trail of Death marker, between Homer & Fairmount and one at Sidney.)
- Activities and programs developed in languages other than English.
Champaign-Urbana Lincoln sites:
- Cattle Bank
- location of Goose Pond Church (public parking lot N of Police Station)
- Court house square in Urbana, location of the 3rd Co. Court House
- Old State Road between Urbana and Danville
- Strong/Kelley's Ford and site of Kelley's Tavern