An Interview with Abraham Lincoln

(Seated on stage is Abraham Lincoln along with the man who is interviewing him. The audience does not realize who the interviewer is.)

Narrator: It is the night of the 2008 Presidential election. Barack Obama has just been elected the first African-American U.S. President.

Interviewer: Mr. President, your courageous strength and perseverance freed African- Americans from slavery over 150 years ago. What are your feelings tonight?

Abraham Lincoln: (Pensive and somewhat emotional with his eyes tearing up a bit)

I might have freed the slaves in 1865, but it was a long, hard road to this evening. Things were not what I thought they would be in this country after the slaves were liberated. Freedom and equality do not always go hand in hand. Although the slaves achieved their freedom with the passage of the 13th Amendment, that was a long cry from equality. My heart broke to see the hatred that existed in the South after the war. Lynchings were common and were used to terrorize the African- American population. Even 100 years after the Civil War, African-Americans were still treated like second class citizens, forced to sit in the back of the bus, disenfranchised, and receiving an inferior, segregated education. It took the Civil Rights Movement and many more years of struggle, for the belief that all men are created equal, stated in our glorious Declaration of Independence, to really permeate the American soul. Tonight, I can say is the first night that I will truly rest in peace. (pauses a few seconds) A great man once said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” And so I ask you, Mr. King, how do you feel tonight?

Interviewer/ Martin Luther King: Tonight my dreams have taken a giant leap forward to being fulfilled. Within Obama, I see the embodiment of hope for a better future for millions of African-Americans. It is truly a new day, a new time for all Americans. Perhaps in the near future, society truly will be color blind.


Curtain