Sunday Cherry Blossoms Walk #1: Looking for What Abraham Lincoln Called “The Better Angels of Our Nature”
Join Prof. Joel Swerdlow '74 for a series of walks and lectures about D.C.
Sunday, March 28, 1:00-3:00 pmMeet at the base of the Lincoln Memorial
Route: Lincoln Memorial to FDR Memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial site
We will re-create a major speech from dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922 (the uncensored version). Learn why Lincoln wanted to enshrine slavery in the U.S. Constitution until the beginning of the 20th century, and examine how Hollywood and television have done so much to change our feelings about the Lincoln Memorial.
We will then take the short walk to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, where we will look for evidence of FDR’s greatest failing, which most of his critics still fail to recognize, and his vision of an Economic Bill of Rights. Ending at the site of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, we will discuss how his views about economic justice and war still challenge us. We will also discuss the untruths (or misleading statements) upon which the creators of each memorial relied.
Sponsored by
- Cornell Club of Washington
