Signs for LINCOLN, ABRAHAM

Meaning: Signed name of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the U.S.

The 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.

Related signs: JOHN F. KENNEDY.

Deaf Culture and tidbits

The Lincoln Memorial Legend

The Gallaudet University campus is not far from the U.S. Capitol, about 1.6 miles. Lincoln (1809-1865) signed the charter of Gallaudet University (1864). The Gallaudet/Cogswell statue (1889) on Gallaudet campus and the Lincoln Memorial (1920) at National Mall were sculpted by the same renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931).

Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell statue
Thomas H. Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell at Gallaudet

French designed this statue that depicts Gallaudet showing the little girl Alice the manual letter A, a symbol of the deaf education in sign language.

A closeup of Lincoln's left hand of the Lincoln Memorial
A closeup of Lincoln's left hand of the Lincoln Memorial

The legend is that French coded Lincoln's initials into two hands that form into two very subtle manual alphabetical letters A and L.

A closeup of Lincoln's right hand of the Lincoln Memorial
A closeup of Lincoln's right hand of the Lincoln Memorial

"...the fact that French is known to have tweaked his original models of Lincoln's right hand from a clenched hand to an open one." Ref

There is no record that verifies French's intention; whether it is a myth or the design was a deliberation, it's one of our favorite Deaf legends.

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