Lincoln Speaks

Lincoln Speaks, a 15-minute film, was originally produced to accompany the exhibition, Lincoln Speaks: Words That Transformed a Nation, and features contemporary writers and scholars discussing the power of Lincoln’s language and his enduring legacy in American political life. President Bill Clinton leads a group of distinguished commentators, including Tony Kushner, award-winning playwright and author of the screenplay for the Academy Award-winning Lincoln; Harold Holzer, one of the nation's leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln; Edna Greene Medford, Chair of the History department at Howard University; the prolific novelist Jerome Charyn, author of I am Abraham; and historian Earl Lewis, President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Actor Neil Bradley voiced excerpts from Lincoln’s speeches and letters. This film—which was previously only available in the gallery when the exhibition was on view—includes manuscripts and photographs from The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, The Shapell Manuscript Foundation, and the Morgan Library & Museum.