Century-old Tragedy Marked in Abe’s Hometown
Abe Lincoln’s hometown of Springfield, Ill., took time last week to remember a horrific time in U.S. history when White mobs terrorized and lynched Black residents. City officials commemorated that tragic period in 1908 with an unnamed bronze statue just across the street from the Lincoln Presidential Museum. The statue, which portrays scenes of rubble, anguished families and National Guard troops, is designed to resemble the chimneys of Black-owned homes that were burned down during the melee. Ironically, the dedication coincides with a modern-day racial controversy. A century after that tragic period, nooses have been found at the work station of Black city employees. Black and community leaders have expressed outrage. “We will not go back,” R. Beverly Peters, chairwoman of the commission that organized the commemoration, told The Associated Press. “Let the word go out that we will not be deterred by one or two or even a few Neanderthal thinkers who would resurrect a hangman’s noose or any other relic of the dark and racist past.”

KC Hotel Accused of Racism
Was it a case of racism, or were a group of Connecticut Black youths booted out of a Kansas City hotel because they were too loud? The manager says that race had nothing to do with the ouster of the New Haven, Conn.-based Nation Drill Squad and Drum Corps; rather, he said, it was the result of numerous complaints from other guests at the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex Hotel. But Douglas Bethea, Nation Drill Squad director, said that his 48-member team had gotten substandard treatment since arriving at the hotel. The group, which included some members as young as 4 years old, was kicked out at 1:15 a.m., he told The Associated Press. Such cases have drawn even more attention since the president of The Valley Swim Club was accused of racism when his club canceled the swimming privileges Black children from a nearby day care center.

 After nearly 150 years, the great-great-grandson of the man who worked on President Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch set out to learn whether there was any truth to the legend that there was a secret message praising Lincoln and prophesying the end of slavery. Douglas Stiles, a real-estate attorney in Waukegan, Ill., had heard that his ancestor, Irish immigrant and D.C. watchmaker Jonathan Dillon, had been working on the president’s watch in 1861 when news came that Fort Sumter had been attacked in South Carolina, marking the beginning of the Civil War. Read more.

Lincoln led votes, Bush among worst in history. At least by Britain’s standards, Abraham Lincoln, President Barack Obama’s political mentor, is the greatest American president ever. The Times, a U.K. paper, released a President’s Day weekend poll showing that Bill Clinton was viewed as just mediocre, while John F. Kennedy missed the top 10 by one position. Lincoln, due to his holding together of the Union during Civil War times, was given top props. Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, on the other hand, landed in the bottom 10 among Times staff vote results. Ronald Reagan, whose policies largely devastated Black America in the 1980s, also wound up near the bottom of the list.

Obama plans address for northern neighbors. President Barack Obama will cross the border this week to address America’s northern neighbor. On Thursday, the commander-in-chief will make his first appearance before Canadian government officials since his election to the White House. Among topics he’s expected to discuss are the American and international economy, and the military deployment in Afghanistan. Canadians, like many around the globe, have received Obama’s leadership with warm, positive words and receptive political gestures.