The next St. Joseph Heritage Museum and Cultural Center lecture will be February 19, featuring an expert on Abraham Lincoln.
The museum’s lecture chair, Dennis Szymanski, tells us Dr. Tom George will discuss Lincoln’s only visit to Michigan, which was on August 27, 1856 in Kalamazoo.
Szymanski says not many people know Lincoln ever came to Michigan.
“It’s not a known fact, but it surfaced because of a letter that Lincoln wrote in 1856 and they found it in a Detroit News publication about the letter than Lincoln authored,” Szymanski said.
Lincoln visited Kalamazoo. So, what did he talk about?
“He was stumping for the Republican candidate for the presidency, the very first one, that was elected by the Republican Committee in Philadelphia of that year.”
Szymanski says Dr. George will speak about that address, which Lincoln gave in support of John C. Fremont, the governor of California. Lincoln also spoke in opposition to slavery.
The engagement at the Heritage Museum will be free to attend, as are all of the museum’s lectures. It will start at 7 p.m. on the 19th at the museum and will also be livestreamed over Zoom.
