Edward Askew Sothern the play that Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated. Sothern's role was Lord Dundreary, a caricature of a brainless English nobleman. At first, he was reluctant to accept the role; it was so small and unimportant that he felt it beneath him and feared it might damage his reputation. He mentioned his qualms to his friend, Joseph Jefferson, who had been cast in the leading role of Asa Trenchard in the play. Jefferson supposedly responded with the famous line: "There are no small parts, only small actors." On 15 October 1858, "Our American Cousin" premiered in New York.
Abraham Lincoln School Abraham Lincoln School Abraham Lincoln School was for freedmen and opened on October 3, 1865 in New Orleans on the campus of University of Louisiana (predecessor to Tulane University) after the American Civil War. It was featured on the cover of "Harper's Weekly". It opened under the supervision of Rev. Thomas W. Conway, an assistant commissioner of the Freedmen Bureau. Attendance was free at first and attracted some 750 students. At that time, the school had 14 teachers. When tuition charges were instituted, enrollment dropped by about half. About 75 percent of students were reported to be of "mixed blood".