Lincoln Mania

Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s 16th president, will be honored during a four-month cultural tourism celebration titled “Living the Legacy: Lincoln in Washington, DC,” running January 1 through April 30, 2009.  

To commemorate Lincoln’s 200th birthday, which falls on February 12,  Downtown  joins in a nationwide bicentennial celebration that includes more than 80 exhibitions, lectures, performances, special events and tours, including themed packages and offerings at  Downtown  hotels and restaurants.

Featured events run the gamut. They include “One Life: The Mask of Lincoln” exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, a concert in tribute to Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, an unparalleled collection of important Lincoln artifacts at the National Museum of American History, The Living Lincoln speaker series at Ford’s Theatre and a lecture titled “Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln” at the National Archives.

Designed to renew Americans’ appreciation of Lincoln’s ideals of freedom, democracy and equal opportunity, and to encourage all people to “live the legacy,” the national tribute was developed by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC), whose members were appointed by the President and congressional leaders. The American Experience Foundation produces the local promotion in partnership with Destination DC and Cultural Tourism DC.

More information is available at www.washington.org/lincolnindc.