C-SPAN Posts Recording of Lincoln Memorial Centennial Program

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of being the master of ceremonies of the Lincoln Memorial Centennial program held on the Memorial steps May 22, 2022. C-SPAN (as well as other media) was there to record it, and they have now posted the full 2-hour video on their website. You can watch the program here:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?520493-1/lincoln-memorial-centennial-ceremony

C-SPAN did a wonderful job of onsite production (three cameras, excellent direction) and worked their fantastic post-production magic to create an eminently professional broadcast video. Lincoln Group of DC member Ed Epstein had this to say on Lincolnian.org:

The two-hour event, which a C-SPAN crew recorded live on Sunday, May 22, was hosted by Lincoln Group president David Kent and featured some thought-provoking speakers and great entertainers. In the photo at left by Bruce Guthrie, singer Felicia Curry sang the Star-Spangled Banner to open the proceedings, which were co-sponsored by the National Park Service and the Lincoln Forum.

The recorded program premiered on C-SPAN 2 on June 18.

The production’s quality is great and catches the atmosphere of the day’s events. It also shows the steady stream of visitors heading to and from the memorial, which draws some eight million visitors a year. It is the most visited memorial in the nation’s capital.

The program was the culmination of a year’s effort led by the Lincoln Group of DC in coordination with the National Park Service and co-sponsored by The Lincoln Forum. As president of the Lincoln Group, I played the primary role of organizing the event (along with the amazing work of many Lincoln Group board members). We had a stellar group of speakers, including Chuck Sams, the director of the National Park Service, Lincoln scholars Harold Holzer and Edna Greene Medford, African American Civil War Museum director Frank Smith, and our keynote speaker, Charlotte Morris, president of Tuskegee University. Also part of the program were representatives from MOLLUS, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Musical performances were by the United States Marine Band “The President’s Own” Brass Quintet and by the incredible Felicia Curry, who sang the national anthem and two selections from Marian Anderson’s groundbreaking 1939 concert on the Memorial’s steps. The words of Lincoln and a poem read at the dedication were powerfully performed by Avatar actor, Stephen Lang. If you weren’t able to be there in person (and even if you were), now is the time to watch it in its entirety on C-SPAN.

Even though today begins summer, both the Lincoln Group and I have many upcoming events. Check out the Events tab on the Lincolnian.org for events and check out the News tab for all sorts of other interesting Lincoln (and Juneteenth) related tidbits. Check out my Media tab above for all of my upcoming programs related both to LGDC and to the release of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

Release date for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is September 1, 2022.

While you’re here, check out the various posts on Lincolnian.org related to our recent Lincoln Memorial Centennial program. For those who missed it, C-SPAN will be replaying the event at 3 pm on June 18th on CSPAN2.

The book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

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I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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