Elizabeth Keckley’s life and experiences in St. Louis, MO and Washington, D.C. stich together many nuances of the fabric of African American life in mid-19th Century America. Born enslaved in Virginia, Keckley, through her own agency, was able to purchase her and her son’s freedom and establish herself as a sought- after fashion designer and successful business owner. Join Ford’s Theatre and the Missouri Historical Society to weave through the complexities of port cities, border states, urban slavery and freedom and the Civil War.

No matter where you are, you can learn about President Lincoln’s assassination and Civil War Washington through our distance-learning programs.

The city of Washington was a complex, gritty, unfinished and precarious place during the Civil War. In this institute, connect with peers to illuminate new perspectives and under-told stories, explore historic sites and collect a wealth of resources. Gain tools to help students grapple with histories whose legacies matter today in this program for K-12 educators.

Learn about monuments and memorials in the nation’s capital and examine how we remember the Civil War in this week-long summer teacher program for 3rd- through 12th-grade teachers.

Through this unique program, students will learn one of President Abraham Lincoln's historical speeches, the fundamentals of performance and public speaking skills. At the end of this project, your class is invited to create a video of the speech they learned to showcase their performance skills. 

Join this national cohort of 5th- through 8th-grade teachers in this multi-year professional development program designed to help integrate public speaking and performance skills into your classroom.

For the 20-21 School Year, this program will combine with the Lincoln Online Oratory Project. Classes receive five virtual visits with a teaching artist to learn a historical speech to perform. Classes record a performance and send to Ford’s for upload to Ford’s YouTube channel.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to support social distancing, we will not be accepting group reservations, which means we will not be offering the free field trip program on-site this fall. We encourage you to consider a virtual field trip or other virtual program for your students this year.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to support social distancing, we are not performing at the theatre, which sadly means we will not be offering student matinees this fall. Please connect with us through our digital programs and virtual field trips.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to support social distancing, we are not performing at the theatre, which sadly means we will not be offering Teacher Preview Workshops this fall. Please connect with us through our digital programs and virtual field trips.