Honest Abe & MLK

Two weekends ago Adam and I headed down to the New York State Museum to see the Abraham Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King's speech on the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The NYS Museum set up a two day exhibit to highlight the documents and man was it popular! The line was out the door and we waited about 45 minutes to see the exhibit. It was a good and historical way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Apparently the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation is owned by and housed in the New York State library (there is a crazy story of how it came to be housed there - originally being sold to fund the war and then traded and later bought by the state) but is rarely displayed. Recently though it was taken on a multi-stop tour through the state of New York. It was really interesting to be able to see Abraham Lincoln's handwriting as well as his edits to the original document; it was also clear that he put a lot of time and effort into the document!

Banner along the way to the exhibit.

 

Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

Written by Abraham Lincoln himself!

The Martin Luther King Jr. document was also really interesting! It was a copy of the speech he delivered on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation proclamation. Just like Abe's the speech (although this time written on a type writer) had many edits and marks and was eventually signed my MLK himself!

MLK's speech!

I know this will sound super corny but there is something about looking at a person's actual speech and corrections that make you seem more connected to them and the events which transpired because of the speeches.  Here are some pictures!