Having only one book, and rereading it a half-dozen times? A seven-year-old using an ax, alone? A family building their house, by hand? A whole school in one room, and some of the students are as old as your parents?
Actor Lou Del Bianco’s portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, enjoyed by second graders at Meadow Pond Elementary and Katonah Elementary, not only brought the 16th President’s story alive for students, it offered them vivid glimpses of life on the American frontier in the early 1800s.
It was as if a 6’4” tall time traveler wearing a top hat had walked into the room.
Students enjoyed acting out one of Aesop’s Fables—a story young Lincoln read as a child, and learned about Lincoln’s character through first-person stories of his honesty, perseverance and courage. “I wanted to be a lawyer, but I only had a penny in my pocket,” said Del Bianco, highlighting Lincoln’s resourcefulness and intelligence in teaching himself the law.
Del Bianco had given teachers primary documents to read aloud during his portrayal of Lincoln. Students heard Lincoln’s first speech to the Illinois Legislature, as well as a letter from an 11-year-old girl who advised Lincoln to grow a beard to improve his Presidential prospects—and his reply to her.
The final speech of the presentation, the Gettysburg Address, read by a teacher, brought students to the middle of the Civil War. They repeated the most famous lines together, including: “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Once Del Bianco revealed himself to be an actor, there was time for a Q&A. Topics ranged from historical to personal.
Q. You said you had a penny in your pocket. Your head is on our penny today. Whose face was on it when you were a boy?
A. It would have been a Native American profile.
Q. Do you like being tall?
A. It’s important to embrace who you are.
