HCC to Hold Lincoln Exhibit Ribbon Cutting 3:30 Thursday

Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War, a traveling exhibition opening at the Hopkinsville Community College (HCC) Learning Resource Center (Library), examines how President Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the Civil Warthe secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties. The exhibition will be on HCCs campus from September 21 through November 4.

HCC is one of only 50 libraries in the United States and the only Kentucky host site on the exhibition tour. Hopkinsville Community College is extremely proud to be one of only 50 stops on the national exhibition schedule, said HCC President James Selbe. By being included on this tour, our College is in the company of institutions like Texas Aamp;M and Virginia Polytechnic Institute amp; State University. This project fits perfectly with HCCs mission to promote excellence in teaching and learning.

The exhibition ribbon-cutting event will start at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, September 22, which is also the 149th anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The Christian County Chamber of Commerce will cut the ribbon at 4 p.m. followed by an Emancipation Proclamation presentation by Abraham Lincoln impersonator John Mansfield. The event will conclude with a tour of the exhibit. The exhibits opening celebration is free of charge and open to the public.

The traveling exhibition is composed of informative panels featuring photographic reproductions of original documents, including a draft of Lincolns first inaugural speech, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. We are excited about the numerous educational opportunities that this exhibition will provide for the general public and school systems around the region, said HCC Librarian Cynthia Atkins. Since HCC is the only Kentucky site on the tour schedule, we expect that our Library will welcome visitors from both across the Commonwealth and from adjacent states.

The National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office organized the traveling exhibition, which was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): great ideas brought to life. The traveling exhibition is based on an exhibition of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.