Event Description:
O Captain! My Captain! A discussion led by Dr. David S. Reynoldsand Dr. Barbara Bair about Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman.
WWBA is delighted to present “O Captain, My Captain!”, a discussion about Abraham Lincoln’s life and times, and Walt Whitman’s poetry & speeches following Lincoln’s untimely passing. On April 15th, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln succumbed to his injuries after being assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth. Upon hearing a first-hand account of the assassination, Walt Whitman immediately sat down and penned a poetic elegy to the fallen leader. “O Captain! My Captain!” is now one of America’s most beloved poems.
Event Video Link: https://youtu.be/Yv9RXMDmnpk
David S. Reynolds, Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, will discuss his book Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times, winner of the prestigious Lincoln Prize and selected as one of the Wall Street Journal’s Ten Best Books of the Year in 2020. The discussion will explore Lincoln in a culturally biographical context. David S. Reynolds: http://davidsreynolds.com
Barbara Bair, Curator of Literature, Culture, and Arts in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress will present items from the Library of Congress’ collection that relate to the many public lectures Whitman gave while simultaneously mourning and celebrating Lincoln. She will show the “Death of Lincoln” tickets, printed programs, and the actual reading copy that Whitman used to give his lectures. Barbara Bair & Library of Congress: https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/walt-whitman
