Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln
By Gerald J. Prokopowicz
(October 2008 Civil War News)

Illustrated, sources, 311 pp., 2008. Pantheon Books, 1745 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10019, $24.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: James A. Percoco
James A. Percoco teaches U.S. and Applied History at West Springfield High School in Springfield, Va. He is author of A Passion for the Past: Creative Teaching of U.S. History and Divided We Stand: Teaching About Conflict in U.S. History. Percoco is a USA TODAY All-USA teacher and is an adjunct professor in the School of Education at American University where he serves as History Educator-in-Residence.

Review:
Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln would be a book that no doubt Lincoln, himself, would enjoy.  With a terrific blend of serious scholarship, wit and humor, Lincoln scholar Gerald Prokopowicz offers readers a peek into the many questions regarding the 16th president that he has fielded over his years as both a public and academic historian.

Divided into 12 chapters exploring a range of Lincoln themes from “The Boy Lincoln” to “Gettysburg” to “Lincoln the Man,” Prokopowicz cracks a variety of myths and half-truths, as well as half-baked topics and questions that have emerged as part of Lincoln lore, among them the story that Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope on his train ride to Pennsylvania.

Some of the questions posed reflect genuine intellectual pursuits of the subject matter and address a variety of Lincoln issues on important topics like race, emancipation and civil liberties.  Pulling from his vast knowledge of Lincoln, Prokopowicz addresses these concerns like any serious scholar should — with insight and sensitivity.

For example, “Was Lincoln really the great Emancipator that we have traditionally been brought up to admire, or was he just a clever, lying, racist, white male politician who had no interest in the well being of black America other than when it served his political interests?”  Prokopowicz, in four pages, explains the origin of this question — a big and generic question raised by many people — while at the same time laying out a well-crafted historically based response starting with Lincoln’s 1854 Peoria Address and then picking apart aspects of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates that clarify Lincoln’s ideas on both race and slavery. 

Prokopowicz concedes that by today’s definition Lincoln would be defined as a racist, particularly with our 21st century penchant for evaluating history through our prism; an application of presentism.

 Successful debaters often work from the open-minded perspective of presuming that the other side’s argument may be right.  Rather than dismiss Lincoln debunkers Lerone Bennett, author of Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream and anti-Lincoln zealot Thomas DiLorenzo, Prokopowicz argues that their perspectives and questions must be addressed and considered, because they, too, are part of the whole of Lincoln studies. 

But like the careful lawyer Lincoln was, so too is Prokopowicz, who also holds a J.D., as he lays out his arguments against the debunkers with what Lincoln called “cold calculating reason.”

 A skillful, well-written entertaining and amusing read, Did Lincoln Own Slaves? provides Lincoln enthusiasts and buffs as well as neophytes a way to sort through some of the issues raised in the world of Lincoln Lore, while at the same time being a fresh addition to that world.