For Release: 2009-01-21 15:48:00
It takes a person of enormous stature for people to celebrate his birth for 200 years. And there's no one who fits that bill more completely than the 16th president of the United States, Kentuckian Abraham Lincoln. Continuing the two-year celebration -- which included the Kentucky Life special production Lincoln: 'I, too, am a Kentuckian.' -- KET offers a wealth of programs airing in February in honor of his birth.First, there's Lincoln: Prelude to the Presidency, airing Thursday, Feb. 5 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1 and Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 10/9 p.m. CT on KET2. Riding through prairie grass on trails just barely wide enough for his horse, Lincoln traveled more than 500 miles each spring and fall as a lawyer on Illinois' Eighth Judicial Circuit. His experiences from 1837 to 1860 on muddy roads, in homes of friends and in courtrooms on the circuit shaped the views and honed the skills that guided him when he became president.
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington, and over the next 12 days, as a fractured nation mourned, the largest manhunt ever attempted closed in on his assassin, the 26-year-old renowned actor John Wilkes Booth. American Experience "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln," airing Monday, Feb. 9 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1 and Sunday, Feb. 15 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2, features interviews with the nation's foremost Lincoln scholars, who recount a great American drama: two tumultuous months when the joy of peace was shattered by the heartache of Lincoln's death.
Looking for Lincoln, airing Wednesday, February 11 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1, features African American Lives' Henry Louis Gates, the Harvard professor who looked into Oprah's roots. The documentary addresses many of the controversies surrounding Lincoln -- race, equality, religion, politics, depression -- by carefully interpreting evidence from those who knew him and those who study him today.
Finding the real human being behind the icon is one of the goals of the Kentucky Life special Lincoln: 'I, too, am a Kentuckian.' The program, which airs Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 8/7 p.m. CT on KET1, is produced in part by a grant from the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
There are few figures in American history that have attained this native son's status -- in fact, most historians agree that America truly didn't become America until after his rise to the presidency. In the program, host Dave Shuffett searches Kentucky, Illinois and the nation's capital for clues to the man who surrounded himself with Kentuckians: from his wife, Lexington native Mary Todd; to his law partners; to his best friend, Louisvillian Joshua Speed.
In Young Lincoln, airing Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 10:30/9:30 p.m. CT on KET1 and Sunday, Feb. 8 at 10:30/9:30 p.m. CT on KET2, viewers discover how the joys and trials of Lincoln's boyhood years formed his personality, shaped his early political notions, and molded his character. His childhood experiences would shape his attitudes and character, and cast a dark shadow of depression that would remain deeply ingrained in him throughout his life.
Finally, Lincoln Bicentennial Gala, a concert that kicked off the two-year nationwide celebration of Lincoln's birth, encores Thursday, Feb. 12 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1. The program, taped in February 2008 at the Kentucky Center for the performing Arts in Louisville, features actor Sam Waterston, the Louisville Orchestra and more. The program was produced with funding provided by the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Arts Council.
More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.
Contact: Ellen Soileau
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