The Lincoln Bible

[ReignetteC]

As I am sure the members of this forum know, at Monday’s Inaugural ceremony, President Obama will take the oath of office on bibles that belonged to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.

The Lincoln bible is from the president’s first inauguration, and Dr. King’s bible, described as a “traveling bible,” is from his travels throughout the country when he sought equal rights for all Americans.

The historical significance of these great books reminds me of another "Lincoln Bible" - a gift, in 1864, from a group of grateful African-Americans. James Randall, in Fehrenbacher's The Leadership of Abraham Lincoln, describes the bible and its presentation as follows:

“Though relatively few Negroes ever saw Lincoln, and still fewer talked with him, Negroes everywhere came to think of him as their friend. They were not backward in expressing their regard for him. The colored people of Baltimore, to show their appreciation of the ‘distinguished services of President Lincoln in the cause of human freedom,’ contributed $580.75 to have a copy of the Bible bound in purple velvet, mounted in gold, engraved with a representation of Lincoln striking the shackles from a slave, and enclosed in a walnut case lined with white silk. This imposing volume they presented to the president at the White House in September, 1864. ‘I can only say now, as I have often said before, it has always been a sentiment with me that all mankind should be free,’ Lincoln remarked, in thanking the colored delegation. ‘In regard to the great book, I can only say it is the best gift which God has ever given man.’”