ABA
How Pop Culture Defines Abe Lincoln
Posted Feb 19, 2009, 12:16 pm CST
By Edward A. Adams
Do you know the real Abe Lincoln, or have film, television and advertising implanted a myth of America’s 16th president in your mind?
Marking the bicentennial year of Lincoln’s birth, the American Bar Association will be examining that thesis in a free public program from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the ABA's headquarters, 321 N. Clark St., Chicago. The program is open to the public. Those attending are asked to RSVP here.
Panelists Christine Corcos, an associate professor of law at Louisiana State University, and David Hundley, a Chicago litigator and author of the blog Cinema Mishmash, will deconstruct what pop culture teaches us about the Great Emancipator.
The clips they’ll examine range from the 1939 movie Young Mr. Lincoln to the 1989 comedy that launched the career of Keanu Reeves, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
The program is the second in an occasional series of public events produced by the ABA. The first, in October, featured Joseph Margulies, lead counsel in Rasul v. Bush (2004), the landmark case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Guantanamo detainees could challenge the lawfulness of their detention in federal court.
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