Of all the many horrors of slavery, the cruelest was the separation of families. Spouses and siblings were sold away from one other. Young children were separated from their mothers. Fathers were “sent down river” never to see their families again. As soon as slavery ended in 1865, family members began to search for one another by all means possible, including “information wanted” advertisements and letters placed in newspapers. For years, for decades, members of the “Freedom Generation” searched for each other. Drawn from a remarkable and illuminating archive founded by author Judith Giesberg, Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People for their Lost Family shares the heart-wrenching stories of these separated families, shining light on their pursuit.
As part of the Second American Revolution exhibit, you’re invited to join the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum for this program, which offers a deeply human and personal portrait of America’s freed people as they searched for their families. Delivered on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Giesberg’s talk considers how the “new birth of freedom” was lived by Americans forced to leave loved ones behind in slavery.
This program will take place on Thursday, November 19, 2026, in the ALPLM Union Theater. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Program begins at 6:30 p.m. This program is free to attend but advance registration is required. A book signing will follow the program. You’ll have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the book that evening or in advance when you register for the program.
Audience members will also be able to visit the special exhibit “The Second American Revolution,” which examines the war’s aftermath, the attempts to give African Americans an equal role in the South and the successful movement to reverse most of those gains for the next century. The exhibit includes the pen Abraham Lincoln used when signing the Emancipation Proclamation, artifacts from racial terror groups and short films explaining the forces that reversed Reconstruction.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Judith Giesberg is professor of history and Robert M. Birmingham chair in the humanities at Villanova University. She is the founder and director of the Last Seen archive, and the author of several books on Civil War history, including Army at Home, Emilie Davis’s Civil War, and Last Seen.
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