Jacob Friefeld, director of the Center for Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield, has won a Nebraska Book Award in the nonfiction history category for “The First Migrants,” a book he co-authored with Richard Edwards. Published by Bison Books, the book examines the migration of Black homesteaders to the Great Plains from 1877 to 1920.

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies will host the 22nd annual Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture, focusing on “Lincoln and Political Conflict.” The lecture is free and open to the public.

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12

WHERE: UIS Student Union Ballroom, 2251 Richard Wright Drive, Springfield

The University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies, in collaboration with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and Juneteenth Inc., will host two events exploring the historical significance of Juneteenth and the struggle for Black citizenship in Illinois. Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States, marking the day when news of their freedom reached Texas on June 19, 1865.

University of Illinois Center for Lincoln Studies announced multiple significant achievements and upcoming events that will further illuminate the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln.

University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies Director Jacob K. Friefeld’s book, “The First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders’ Quest for Land and Freedom Heralded America’s Great Migration,” co-authored with Richard Edwards, has been selected as a finalist for the 2024 Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Book Prize.

Friefeld previously served as an Illinois and Midwest studies research historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield before coming to UIS.

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield will host the 21st annual Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture on “Abraham Lincoln and Digital Humanities” featuring Professor Christopher Oakley, leader of “The Virtual Lincoln Project” at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Asheville, and Michelle A. Krowl, the curator of the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. The lecture is free and open to the public.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6 (refreshments and hors d’oeuvres start at 6 p.m.)

Jacob K. Friefeld, Ph.D., has been named the director of the Center for Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield starting Aug. 16, 2023. He comes to UIS from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield where he served as the Illinois and Midwest studies research historian.

The University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies’ exhibit “Making Our History: Artists Render Lincoln’s Legacies” will be on display Feb. 10 to March 3 at the Beverly Arts Center, located at 2407 W. 111th St., Chicago. The exhibit will be open 2-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 12-5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. A reception will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, with cocktails and live music.

"Making Our History" Lincoln Art Exhibit in Springfield

On August 11, 2022, the Center for Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) unveiled Making Our History: Artists Render Lincoln’s Legacies, an innovative physical and digital art exhibit funded by the University of Illinois Presidential Initiative: Expanding the Impact of the Arts and Humanities.