from marian anderson in 1939 to dr. king in 1963 to the black lives matter protest of two summers ago. the lincoln memorial has become the nation's preeminent stage for first amendment demonstrations particularly with regards to civil rights. and therein hat lies the power and importance of our national parks. yes these sites preserve the past and enshrining the memories of the famous, but they also serve as important forums. places where we cannot only discuss the legacies of great americans like abraham lincoln, but also can draw inspiration from that legacy to call for and enact change. here at the lincoln memorial we can both learn where we came from as a nation and examine where we are headed. secretary holland has made it part of her mission to tell the full story of america. even the dark pages of our history books so that we can learn from our past and build a more equitable and inclusive future. i would be this as an american indian if i did not acknowledge the dakota 38 in which president lincoln had to make t

smith opens the same season as marian anderson. and the scene you talk about, he is a child reading the gettysburg address out loud from the wall. then the film cuts to a black man with tears falling down his cheeks as he hears the words of the promise of equality under god. god is mentioned in lincoln's other speech and is on the gettysburg address portion. lincoln added those, they were not in the original text. when he rewrote it, he inserted the words he spoke at gettysburg. the other mention of god is harsher. in the second inaugural address where that is written into panels on the wall, there is a fiery paragraph saying that after all these centuries of oppression, slavery, every drop of blood drawn with a lash has to be repaid by those drawn with the sword, that as we said 3000 years ago, so must it be said today, the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether. so it was evoking god for quality and also for retribution of the sin of slavery. host: you have written 50 books about lincoln and the civil war, do you

that i welcome again to the microphone felicia curry who will sing from one of the songs that marian andersontle bit to sing a song that i'm sure everybody will remember but this is one of the spiritual's that was sung by marian anderson. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] now, during the course of the day, you've heard words from lincoln often on from our different speakers. as president lincoln grew up in the district of columbia, i can say that you can never hear too many words from lincoln. so, we'll have some more for you. and, in fact, we have a special honor of having stephen lang speak some of the words from lincoln. i first met stephen in statuary hall in the national capital in 2015 for the second inaugural event, in which he read lincoln's second inaugural. steven is a star of stage, screen, and television. he is many dozens of credits and all of those venues. he's also an author, a producer, a writer. he is one a tony award nomination and won the saturn award for best supporting actor for a little movie t