The Black Men Who Changed Lincoln's Mind

Guest Post by Shelly Michell

Nancy Kendall and Abraham Lincoln lived during unbelievably turbulent times. The trauma of those years was etched on Abraham Lincoln’s face.
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​I have asked myself, was Abraham Lincoln really an abolitionist? 

I have asked myself, was slavery endemic to our country’s very core?

I have asked myself, is racism so embedded in our economy and collective thought that it will always be present? Are we capable of evolving from the racism that supported the enslavement of human beings based on the color of their skin?

A recent Smithsonian Magazine article, “Meet the Black Men Who Changed Lincoln’s Mind About Civil Rights,” explores these questions.   

​Author Jonathan W. White*, describes the daring 1862 escape of one of those influential men, Robert Smalls, a 23-year-old slave who commandeered a Confederate steamer, and against extraordinary odds, freed himself, his family and 12 other enslaved people.

Smalls met with Abraham Lincoln at the White House after his bold escape, to plant the seeds of emancipation and equality for Black men. Lincoln previously rejected the idea of Black volunteers in his militia, but after this fortuitous meeting of the minds with Smalls, Lincoln embraced the idea of enlisting Black troops, as a way to physically fortify their forces in order to win the war.

However, the newly enlisted Black men were only paid half as much as their white counterparts. They also had the added risk of deadly consequences if captured.     

Other petitioners, Arnold Bertonneau, Jean Baptiste Roudanez and Union Army surgeon, Anderson Ruffin Abbott appealed to Lincoln with the argument that the free Black men who had fought for the North, had “spilled their blood” and deserved to be treated equally with both pay and the unalienable rights they felt they had earned, one of which was the right to vote.

Lincoln agreed that “there was no reason that intelligent Black men should not vote.” He did not feel it was necessary to extend voting rights to those who were poor, uneducated, those who were born into bondage or those “who had not fought gallantly in our ranks.”

The evolution of his thinking had grave personal consequences. On April 11, 1865, John Wilkes Booth grew angry as he listened to Lincoln’s speech publicly calling for educated Black men and those who had served as soldiers to be given the right to vote. Three days later, Booth gunned Lincoln down.

In our history books, Lincoln his often lauded as a great abolitionist whose beliefs were the catalyst that started the conversation and the ensuing struggle for equality for Black Americans. A deeper delve into history, though, shines a light on his emerging enlightenment on this issue.

​For the first 30+ years of his career in public service, he ridiculed the thought of equality for Black men. In his final days, he took the opposite position, but only for the Black men he felt were worthy of those rights by their actions.

While his beliefs were changing with the help of these brave men advocating for full equality for all their brethren, he was not yet willing to grant those rights to all men of color. Some of his earlier held beliefs remained unchanged. Yet, Lincoln opined that he had “labored hard…for the good of the colored race” and “would continue to do so.”

Most of us abhor the notion of racism, and consider ourselves evolved from those views. Yet do we, like Lincoln, still also harbor bits of unconscious bias? It has only been very recently that we have begun to recognize and revise the subtle remnants of racism in the world around us.

Have we all looked within ourselves to examine if our own beliefs truly support equal treatment of all human beings? Are there things we could do better?    

Nancy Jean and Kristine Schwartzman contributed to this post.

 * Jonathan B. White is the author of multiples books about the Civil War, including his soon-to-be-released book, A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House.