michael burlingame let us begin with you. tell our friends why you argue in your new book that lincoln was the black man's president. you have several speeches of frederick douglass that you begin with, including in 1865, the eulogy on lincoln. he said no class of people has a better reason implementing the death of lincoln then have the colored people. what is the significance of that speech? why do you hold that lincoln was the black man's president? >> thank you very much for your kind introduction. thank you very much for inviting me. i feel a little out of place because the central theme of my book is, let's not focus on lincoln's speeches writings and the like, let's focus on lincoln's interactions with black people both in lincoln and washington. the title of the book comes from a eulogy from frederick douglass from june 1st in 1865 from cooper's union. the premier cited the country to give a major speech. it was covered widely in the new york press. it has been on accountability ignored by historians in anthropologist

speech and song and her new book is his greatest speeches how lincoln moved the nation welcome michael burlingame noah feldman and diana schaub. michael berlin. let us begin with you. tell our friends why you argue in your new book that lincoln was the black man's president and you have you have several speeches of frederick douglass that you begin with including in 1865 eulogy on lincoln where he said no people at class of people in the country have a better. reason for lamenting the death of lincoln then have the colored people. what is the significance of that? speech? and why do you believe that lincoln was the black man's president? well, thank you very much for your kind introduction and thank you for inviting me. i feel a little out of place because my book is focused the central theme i'm book is let's not focus on lincoln speeches and writings and policies in the light. let's focus on lincoln's interaction with black people both in springfield and in washington, but the title of the book comes from a eulogy that frederick douglass delivered on june 1st 1865 in cooper union the premiere s