Plymouth Church, 57 Orange Street (between Henry and Hicks) is inaugurating the Henry Ward Beecher Lecture Series “to inform a 21st Century audience of all ages on the history of the church, the history of New York City and Brooklyn, and the history of the United States.” Beecher, who served as Plymouth’s minister from its founding in 1847 until his death in 1887, is represented by the statue near the center of the photo above. To the statue’s left in the photo is a relief depicting a seated Abraham Lincoln. In February 1860 Beecher, famous for his passionate opposition to slavery, invited Lincoln, a former Illinois congressman and unsuccessful senatorial candidate who was known to have antislavery views, to speak at Plymouth. The venue of the speech, which is credited with Lincoln’s winning the Republican presidential nomination three months later, and the Presidency in November, was changed to Cooper Union in Manhattan where it was believed it would attract a larger audience. The day before the speech Lincoln worshiped at Plymouth. Pew 89, where he sat, bears a plaque with his signature.
The first Beecher Lecture will be on Wednesday, October 16, starting at 7:00 PM. The speaker will be historian Harold Holzer, former Senior Vice President for Public Affairs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and now Director of Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. He is author of many books, most recently Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration. The lecture is free, and reservations are not required. Doors open at 6:30 PM at 57 Orange Street.
Photo: C. Scales for BHB
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