Description
In a littlenoted eulogy delivered after Lincolns assassination Frederick Douglass called the president emphatically the black mans president the first to show any respect for their rights as men Douglass pointed not just to Lincolns official acts and utterances like the Emancipation Proclamation or the Second Inaugural Address but also to the presidents own personal experiences with Black people
But Lincolns description as emphatically the black mans president rests on more than his relationship with Douglass or on his official words and deeds Lincoln interacted with many other African Americans during his presidency His unfailing cordiality to them his willingness to meet with them in the White House to honor their requests to invite them to consult on public policy to treat them with respect whether they were kitchen servants or leaders of the Black community to invite them to attend receptions to sing and pray with them in their neighborhoodsall those manifestations of an egalitarian spirit justified the tributes paid to him by Frederick Douglass and other African Americans
Historian David S Reynolds observed that only by examining Lincolns personal interchange with Black people do we see the complete falsity of the charges of innate racism that some have leveled against him over the years
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