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Richard Wightman Fox

Biography

Richard Wightman Fox

Richard Wightman Fox is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and the author of JESUS IN AMERICA and TRIALS O INTIMACY, among other books. He lives in Venice, California.

Richard Wightman Fox

Books by Richard Wightman Fox

by Richard Wightman Fox - History, Nonfiction

The very roughness of Lincoln's appearance made him seem all the more common, one of us ---- as did his sense of humor about his own awkward physical nature. Nineteenth-century African Americans felt deep affection for their "liberator" as a "homely" man who did not hold himself apart. During Reconstruction, Southerners felt a nostalgia for the humility of Lincoln, whom they envisioned as a "conciliator." Later, teachers glorified Lincoln as a symbol of nationhood that would appeal to poor immigrants.