Abraham Lincoln may be dead, but that isn’t stopping the birthday celebrations.The 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday is Thursday, and celebrations will continue throughout the week at various locations in the Baton Rouge area and on campus.”Lincoln Chose Louisiana” is the theme of a 10-day commemoration during which Lincoln’s stories will be told through music, exhibits, poetry, plays, short speeches and poem readings by and about Lincoln.”We’re always talking about being last in this, that and the other, but I think it’s important to know we were first in the mind of Lincoln,”said David Madden, chair of the Louisiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.The University will host “Lincoln and Bolivar as Emancipators,” today at 10:30 a.m. in the Memorial Tower.LSU System President John Lombardi will speak informally about Lincoln and Simon Bolivar as emancipators, along with James Stoner, political science chair, who will speak briefly about Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and the Declaration of Independence.”The events, except for the ones on Monday, aren’t designed to teach things about Lincoln,” Madden said. “It’s more of a celebratory thing where we are experiencing facets of Lincoln.”The main birthday celebration is on the State Capitol steps Thursday at 3 p.m.”[This celebration] tells us what we could have been instead of what we are,” Madden said. “Just to know there was a brighter vision for Louisiana that didn’t come into play explains partly why some of the bad things we have exist.”Madden said Lincoln had a friendlier version of reconstruction planned for the South that fell through when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. He said race problems, corrupt politics and economic instability can be linked back to reconstruction.Madden said the entire nation will continue to celebrate Lincoln throughout the year.”That admiration of Lincoln is pretty universal throughout the world,” he said. “It’d be a horrible thing if we didn’t pay attention.”
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