statue – David J. Kent

Lincoln statue under wraps How time flies! The list of Lincoln statues grows, I get interviewed for a documentary, more tasks accumulate, and the big Lincoln in New England cover reveal nears. And that’s just in the last week.

Let’s start with the new Abraham Lincoln statue. Yesterday, September 22, on the anniversary of Lincoln issuing the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a new statue was unveiled on the steps of the African American Civil War Museum in Washington. The Lincoln Group of DC (of which I am immediate past president) was the principal organizer of the dedication event, and current LGDC president Ed Epstein deserves a huge pat on the back for his efforts to create this wonderful event. I’ve already written a piece for the Lincolnian.org blog and won’t regurgitate it here, so please take a quick hop over to this post to read all about. [But hop right back, because there’s more]

My last post on this site (the one where you’re reading this, assuming you hopped back) gave a quick overview of my recent trip to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos. I’ll have more on that trip soon. I did write about the infamous sea-faring lost shoes on my Hot White Snow blog (the personal side of the writing life), so you can catch up on that here.

Last week I was interviewed for a Civil War medicine documentary project. Before that I reviewed the final proof pages of the manuscript for my new book, Lincoln in New England, which is due out March 3, 2026, from Globe Pequot. I also reviewed the back cover text and have started reaching out to prominent historians for back cover blurbs. More on that soon.

The big news is that all the moving parts are starting to mesh and that I will be revealing the cover graphics for Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours shortly.

I’ll give you a preview, of sorts, and tell you that the cover is brilliantly colored. And it has – no surprise here – a picture of Lincoln on it!

Check back soon for the big reveal!

[Photo by David J. Kent of the new Lincoln statue under wraps (or maybe it’s the Lincoln in New England book cover?)]

Coming in March 2026: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours

Also see – Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America.

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David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and 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.

A statue of Frederick Douglass was dedicated on June 19th in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol Building. It’s been a long time coming, but the date, and the location, are eminently appropriate. Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June and Nineteenth, celebrates the day that the final state of the failed Confederacy abolished slavery. So having the unveiling of the former slave turned great statesman and ardent abolitionist on Emancipation Day is as good an orchestrated roll out as could be imagined.

Frederick Douglass

Douglass is a phenom in the history of freedom from slavery, and a story that deserves its own space for the telling. For now just recall that he was the most vocal “freeman” to push for emancipation. He pressed Abraham Lincoln and others and was often frustrated at the slow pace of change. So while Lincoln rightly deserves much credit for emancipating the slaves, Douglass deserves much more credit than history has recorded.

Emancipation didn’t come easy, of course, as the deaths of between 620,000 and 750,000 men from bullets and disease so graphically reminds us. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued initially in September 1862 and took effect on January 1, 1863. But the immediate impact was limited. It took the North winning the war, Congress passing the 13th Amendment, and ratification by the states for slaves to finally “be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Still, not all of the former Confederate states were happy to comply. It took a Union General, plus a couple of thousand armed troops, to effectively take over the last holdout – Texas – and declare that “all slaves are free.” That was June 19, 1865. Juneteenth.

So, as Lincoln would have paraphrased himself, it is altogether fitting and proper that a seven-foot bronze statue of Frederick Douglass be installed in the Capitol Building on Juneteenth. Emancipation Day.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 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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