One year after Thomas Nast’s first illustration of Santa Claus appears in Harpers Weekly, Christmas, a day that is not yet universally celebrated in America, is haltingly acknowledged throughout the North and South. In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Abraham Lincoln works today as usual, believing that taxpayers expect such of him. Lincoln’s activities today include…
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s April 16, 1862 emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia set in motion a chain of events that result in this month’s establishing of a black church for freed persons on the grounds of the former plantation of Robert E. and Mary Lee, a congregation from which two black Baptist…
This month the First Colored Baptist Church of East St. Louis is established on Carr Island in the Mississippi River, straddling the line between Missouri and Illinois. The church is set apart from the city, reflecting the distance that yet remains among whites and blacks in much of the North. Carr Island is a local…