150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Death

Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 15th, Civil War historian John Zinn will be the featured speaker at a ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's death to be held Wednesday, April 15th, at 1 pm at the Seated Lincoln statue in downtown Newark. Zinn will join a host of Essex County and Newark dignitaries at the event, which will be held in front of the Essex County Historic Courthouse, Market Street and Springfield Avenue.

Lincoln, the nation's 16th president, was shot in the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, on the evening of April 14, 1865, shortly after Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox, ushering in the end of the Civil War. He died the following day.

The Seated Lincoln is the most famous statue of Abraham Lincoln outside of Washington, DC. Dedicated on Memorial Day in 1911 at a ceremony that drew 45,000 spectators and featured former President Teddy Roosevelt as the principal speaker, the statue is the work of Gutzon Borglum, one of America's pre-eminent sculptors.

Among others who'll be participating in the commemoration are M. Teresa Ruiz, state senator; Thomas P. Giblin, state assemblyman; the Rev. Dr. M. William Howard, Bethany Baptist Church pastor; Timothy J. Crist and Warren Grover, Newark History Society; Robert Curvin, educator and civil rights leader, and Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the Peoples Organization for Progress.

"It's only fitting John Zinn share his thoughts about Abraham Lincoln on this historic occasion and at this historic spot," said Guy Sterling, event organizer and author of a new book about Newark history. "He is a first-rate scholar who's not only written extensively about the Civil War, he also serves as chairman of the New Jersey Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee."