At ninety minutes in length, Abraham Lincoln in Illinois is the first film production in the Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc’s PAGEANT OF AMERICA series. It covers Lincoln’s life from 1830 to 1860, beginning with his arrival at the log village of New Salem, Illinois, appearing, in his words, “like a piece of floating driftwood,” and ends with his election to the presidency thirty years later. The production has two themes: one, that hard work and study (Lincoln is shown in the film laboring, repeatedly, to educate himself) is the path to achievement, and, two, that Lincoln’s use of the Declaration of Independence, and its phrase “all men are created equal,” to confront the expansion of slavery in the 1850’s, made that foundational document a true American “creed,” as its framers intended. It was ultimately used to free four million African-Americans from bondage, and must be understood as a “living” American creed today.

Starring: Joe Woodard (Abraham Lincoln), Tim Connors (Senator Stephen A. Douglas),
Jason Hosfield (Judge David Davis);
Written and Hosted by Kent Masterson Brown;
Produced by Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc.;
Executive Producers: Thomas W. Lewis,
Jane Winegardner, and Beverly Means DuBose, III

Credits

Editing and Graphics by Chris Yelton; Sound Design by Neil Kesterson;
Original score composed by Clark Cranfill;
Directed by Kent Masterson Brown