The Reframing Lincoln Seminar: Myth, Memory, and Changing Narratives is a weeklong in-person PD event for up to 30 K–12 teachers at Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. The seminar will focus on how to study Lincoln as a myth, a man, and a president. It will explore Lincoln’s beliefs and actions on issues ranging from emancipation, to Black citizenship and equality, to civil liberties in America. Attention will be given not only to Lincoln as a politician, but Lincoln as a person, unraveling simplified narratives to unveil a figure in his full complexity.
Application Information
Interested K–12 teachers should complete an application to be considered. Applications will be reviewed by Gilder Lehrman Institute and Lincoln Presidential Foundation staff. The deadline to submit an application is March 6, 2026. Selected teachers will be notified the week of April 6, 2026.
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Course Leaders
Jonathan W. White, Lead Scholar (pictured left)
Jonathan W. White is professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University. He is the author or editor of twenty-one books that cover a variety of topics related to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Among his awards are the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award (2019), CNU’s Alumni Society Award for Teaching and Mentoring (2016), the Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Prize (2015), the University of Maryland Alumni Excellence Award in Research (2024), the Jack Miller Center’s Teaching Excellence Award (2024), and the Penn State History Department’s Outstanding Alumni Award (2025). His recent books include A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House (2022), which received the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize; Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade (2023); A Great and Good Man: Rare First-Hand Accounts and Observations of Abraham Lincoln (2024); a new children’s book, My Day with Abe Lincoln (2024); and (co-edited with Lucas Morel) Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln (2025).
Justin Emrich, Master Teacher (pictured right)
Justin Emrich is a nationally recognized American history teacher from central Ohio with twenty-one years of classroom experience. He was named the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Ohio History Teacher of the Year in 2016 and received the Jack Miller Center K–12 Teaching Excellence Award in 2024. For the past nine years, he has served as a master teacher for the Gilder Lehrman Institute, leading and participating in in-person and online seminars and workshops across the country on topics such as Abraham Lincoln, the Civil Rights Movement, Native American history, American slavery, and other major themes in US history. Beyond the classroom, Justin serves on multiple national teacher advisory committees, works as an adjunct professor mentoring future educators, designs innovative and thought-provoking curricula, and presents at national conferences. He remains passionate about the power of history education to help students understand the past, make sense of the present, and contribute to a better future.
Offered by Lincoln Presidential Foundation in partnership with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
About The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, visionaries and lifelong supporters of American history education, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to K–12 history education while also serving the general public. The Institute’s mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources.
At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. Drawing on the 87,000 documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and an extensive network of eminent historians, the Institute provides teachers, students, and the general public with access to unique primary source materials.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is supported through the generosity of individuals, corporations, and foundations. The Institute’s programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Organization of American Historians, the Council of Independent Colleges, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Learn more at gilderlehrman.org.