February 15, 2007

Obama, Lincoln and the Reformation of Black History

By Marc Sheppard
On the 10th day of this year's Black History Month, C-SPAN's coverage of the State of the Black Union conference was preempted in midbroadcast. The spotlight departed the Hampton University forum to journey to the site of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, IL where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous house-divided anti-slavery speech in 1858.  Here, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) was about to employ a similar unity theme in announcing his quest to become the first black man in American history to make an earnest, rather than merely symbolic, run for the presidency.  While the imagery of the moment totally enraptured the mainstream media, the stage 750 miles to the east was decidedly less giddy.Before a crowd of between 15,000 and 17,000 shivering supporters, the freshman Senator from Illinois took full advantage of the political significance of the time (2 days before Lincoln's birthday) and the place of his historic speech."... in the shadow of the Old State Capitol,...(Read Full Article)