is the site where president lincoln was assassinated by john wilkes booth. as he sat in a theater with a play running. the play running at the time was our american cousin. president lincoln died the next day across the street at the peterson boardling house. ford s is now a working theater as well as a national historic site. he current play running is 110 in the shade. while we wait, let s take a ook at today s speakers. lincoln, african americans, and the emancipation struggle. and :35 the book lincoln the problem of reconstruction. there will be a midday break for lunch at approximately 1:55 p.m. we ll hear stacy mcdormant on mary lincoln s life and legacy. at 3:05 thomas carson on incoln s ethics. at 3:55 all of today s speakers will participate in a closing panel. what you re looking at there is the box where abraham lincoln was sitting the night that he was shot. the president apparently enjoyed theater and was attending a performance of our american cousin at the ti
a recent symposium about the president s life, career and legacy. he is the author of lincoln s last speech this lecture took place at ford s theatre and is about 50 minutes. on a rainy night of april 11 1865, president lincoln addressed a crowd for the last time. the speech was remarkably less for his oratorical qualities, stylistically, it was far from his best. than for the fact with the conflict all but behind him, lincoln was looking forward in more ways than one to human a a war-tornng nation. three days later, the president would fall to an assassin s bullet and the promise of a gentler reconstruction would go unfulfilled. in his current work titled, lincoln s last speech: wartime reconstruction and the crisis of reunion, dr. lewis masur analyzes reconstruction in all of its iterations from the earliest days of the war to the end of lincoln s presidency and his life. then, in his epilogue, he cites, no less a person than frederick douglass stating how reconstru