Letter: Media overlooked Lincoln

Thursday, February 19, 2009

I was very disappointed when I opened last Thursday’s edition of The University Daily Kansan and found no mention of Abraham Lincoln. On the 200th birthday of arguably the greatest president in the history of the United States, I was expecting to see his name appear at least once in the newspaper. Lincoln was not mentioned in any articles, editorials or even the Fact of the Day section.

But it wasn’t just the paper that failed to recognize this great leader. The University’s Web site featured Charles Darwin on its home page to draw attention to a new exhibit at the Natural History Museum. I read articles about Lincoln that appeared in regional and national publications throughout the day, and I was surprised to see Darwin take precedence over our 16th president in our campus media.

During the day, I asked three of my friends if they knew why the day was of historical significance. All three of them knew that it was someone’s 200th birthday, but that someone turned out to be Charles Darwin. After I asked them if it was important for any other reason, only one was aware that it was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

It seemed strange to me that people seemed to know more about a British naturalist than a man whose actions helped set the stage for the recent election of Barack Obama. For a man who brought our country out of the Civil War and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, it felt like he was almost being forgotten.

— — Scott Toland is an Iola junior and a former copy editor for The Kansan

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