Lincoln Land Community College is inviting the public to its annual Lincoln Lecture Monday, February 12th.  The presentation will be called “Abraham Lincoln and the Making of the American West” and it will be presented by Jacob K. Friefeld at 9 AM in the Trutter Center on the LLCC campus,  The presentation will also be available via Zoom, which you can find on this story online at www.taylorvilledailynews.com.  

Friefeld will discuss Lincoln and his legacy in the West, along with the Homestead Act of 1862.  He will also explore how the Homestead Act can be seen as one of the most important social policies ever enacted in the US and that it worked in combination with the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th and 14th Amendments.  There is no charge to attend and refreshments will be served.

Friefeld is the director of the Center for Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.  His new book, “The First Migrants” tells the story of Black Americans who left the southb etween 1877 and the Great Migration and went west seeking land and freedom.  

LLCC Outreach Centers in Jacksonville, Beardstown, Taylorville, and Litchfield also plan various Lincoln themed activities to commemorate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.