May 2022 - “The Unfinished Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial"
A century ago, on May 30, 1922, 50,000 people gathered for the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. But as John Kelly from the Washington Post bemoaned in 2021, the ceremony spoke volumes about the tenacity of racism: “For an event supposedly celebrating the man who freed enslaved people, …Blacks were treated abysmally at the ceremony.” Other than surviving Civil War soldiers, who all sat together, Black attendees were ushered to a segregated section. Only one black speaker was in the program – Robert Russa Moton - and he was asked to cut out words that were “too controversial.”
Moton, who succeeded Booker T. Washington as principal of the Tuskegee Institute, was considered a “safe choice” by Chief Justice William Howard Taft, a lead organizer of the commemoration. Moton was chosen in part because he was seen as an “accommodationist,” in Washington’s mold, someone who tolerated contemporary discrimination in hopes that acquiescence would facilitate eventual racial equality.
But Moton intended to speak truth to power. In his first draft he cited Lincoln’s contention that the “nation cannot endure half slave and half free,” adding that much had not changed for twelve million Black people. To consecrate hallowed ground properly, Moton added, “this memorial which we erect in token of our veneration is but a hollow mockery, a symbol of hypocrisy, unless we together can make real in our national life, in every state and in every section, the things for which he died.”
It was painful for me to read that it was my great-grandfather who advised Moton to cut those words, along with 500 similar words about how much “work remains to be done” regarding racial justice. Taft warned Moton that it might be interpreted by others as “propaganda,” an ironic term given that the whole dedication ceremony was framed to hide ugly truths that might temper this celebration of national unity. It had been calls for unity, after all, that led to northern troops to withdraw from Southern states in 1877, leaving Black people to be victimized by a vicious surge of white supremacy.
Censorship of Moton’s words reminded me of the current backlash against Critical Race Theory. After all, Moton was saying, how can you celebrate Lincoln’s strategic emancipation of enslaved people without acknowledging the context of systemic racism? As Moton observed, “slavery like a brittle thread in a beautiful garment was woven year by year into the fabric of the nation’s life.”
But many deny these brittle threads, preferring less uncomfortable history, such as that found in author John Crib’s book Old Abe: A Novel. His idealized portrayal of Lincoln proclaims that “Lincoln gave his life because of his stand for Black Americans.” He seems defensive when others point out Lincoln’s racism or the fact that Lincoln gave his life not for Black Americans, but to save the Union. Lincoln would have saved it and kept slavery had that been possible. So, when students at University of Wisconsin-Madison recently demanded the removal of Lincoln’s statue, Crib mocked “cancel culture mentality” implying that the protestors didn’t know history
The effort to tell the whole truth about our history continued this past Sunday, May 22, when the National Park Services and the Lincoln Group co-sponsored the hundredth anniversary of the Lincoln Memorial. On the same steps where Marian Anderson sang and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, the censored portions of Moton’s speech were included in the program. Finally the public could hear this sad truth shared by Moton: “So long as any group is denied the fullest privilege of a citizen to share both the making and the execution of the law which shapes its destiny — so long as any group does not enjoy every right and every privilege that belongs to every American citizen without regard to race, creed or color, the task for which the immortal Lincoln gave the last full measure of devotion — that task is still unfinished.”
Further Actions:
1) Share the Washington Post article by John Kelly, “As Lincoln Memorial turns 100, group hopes to right a century-old wrong.” It helps us understand that history is short, as Kelly speaks of Dan Smith a gentleman alive today whose father was born a slave. Read more about Mr. Smith in my 400 Years column here.
2) Support realistic appreciation of American “heroes” by admitting that Lincoln, like most Americans of his time, harbored racial prejudice and turned to abolition more as a strategic decision than an ethical one. Lerone Bennett Jr. in his 1999 book Forced Into Glory portrays Lincoln as a racist who was “forced” into abolishing slavery by activists. While some think that Bennett goes too far, it seems that for generations mainstream idealization of Lincoln has hidden the full story of racism in America. We cannot succumb to selective amnesia.
3) In honor of Robert Moton, support the Tuskegee Institute and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Or donate in honor of Moton’s daughter, Charlotte Moton Hubbard, a graduate of Tuskegee who went on to serve as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, the first black woman to serve in this role.
4) Teach others how it took 57 years to get the Lincoln Memorial built due to disagreement over Lincoln’s legacy. Forces opposed to telling the whole history insisted that the memorial could not mention slavery. Sadly it does not. However, the name of every state – including the those who fought for the Confederacy - is etched forever above one of the 39 pillars on the outside of the memorial.