The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores some of the arguments in his new book Lincoln on Race and Slavery and the related PBS series "Looking for Lincoln." On the bicentennial of the Great Emancipator's birth Gates tackles the important and troubling question "Was Lincoln a racist?"
And there is no end of interest in the topic. Stephen Colbert recently interviewed Gates on The Colbert Report and the Wall Street Journal asked our him to provide some context in "Lincoln in Black and White," Gates appeared on the Tom Joyner Morning Show to clear up all the myths behind the birthday boy. And in The Daily Beast Tina Brown says of 'Looking for Lincoln': "This smart, moving, funny, and brilliantly-crafted film is an historic television event, in this the bicentennial year of Lincoln, a year full of hagiography and hero worship."