Blog | Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Honoring Black veterans of the American Civil War

The ALPLM is restoring GAR documents, including material from Black posts.

Andre Cailloux: The Hero of Port Hudson

Largely forgotten today, Andre Cailloux was one of the first Black military heroes of the Civil War

New Philadelphia: Family Legacy, National History

Free Frank McWorter rescued his family from slavery and then established a town in Illinois.

Black sororities: a legacy of sisterhood

Items on loan from Springfield's African American sororities tell a century-long story of women helping women.

Meet James Henry Lewis, a free Black man who sought freedom for all

Born into slavery, he died a century later as an attorney and community leader

“The Blues Are the Roots” — Willie Dixon is Born on July 1, 1915

Born in Mississippi, Willie Dixon came to Illinois to help transform the Blues.

An elegy for Jim Gray

Document offers a peek into an escape from slavery

Booker T. Washington Visits the Lincoln Home

One champion of racial equality visits the home of another.

When Chicago stood still: the CTW strike of 1968

When a small group of bus drivers went on strike in Chicago, it was not just a strike against the city. It was a strike against the drivers' own union.

An African American Civil War Hero

How did Andrew Jackson Smith distinguish himself during the Battle of Honey Hill on November 30, 1864?

Social Links