The month of February at Lincoln Memorial University is a busy one. Not only is the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum hosting various events for Black History Month and Lincoln’s birthday, they have also secured a speaker for their first ever Lincoln Lecture.

Slated for Feb. 16 at 6 p.m., in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s 209th birthday and President’s Day weekend, this year’s speaker is Dr. Jason Silverman. He will be speaking on the topic of his recently acclaimed book, “Lincoln and the Immigrant.” Following Silverman’s talk, a reception and book signing will follow with copies available for purchase.

Silverman recently retired as the Ellison Capers Palmer Jr. Professor of History at Winthrop University where he taught for over 33 years. Prior to that he taught at Yale University for four years. Author or editor of 11 books, several of which were nominated for national book awards, his recent work, “Lincoln and the Immigrant,” a volume in the Concise Lincoln Library series published by Southern Illinois University Press, was awarded The Immigrants’ Civil War Award by Hofstra University’s Long Island Wins, a nonprofit communications organization that focuses on immigration issues on Long Island and beyond. Of the 16,500, and counting, volumes published on Abraham Lincoln, Silverman’s is the first full-length study of its kind. This volume inspired American By Belief, a museum exhibit at President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldier’s Home in Washington, D.C.

Silverman received his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia and his graduate degrees at Colorado State University and the University of Kentucky. Among his teaching awards, he has received Winthrop’s Outstanding Junior Professor Award, been named the University’s Distinguished Professor, received the Pi Kappa Phi Excellence in Teaching award three times and, in 1990, became the first person in Winthrop’s history to be named South Carolina Professor of the year. In 2011, Dr. Silverman was named the inaugural Ellison Capers Palmer Jr. Professor of History at Winthrop.

Silverman is Chairman of the Scholarly Advisory Group for President Lincoln’s Cottage at the National Soldier’s Home in Washington, D.C. and co-editor of Abraham Lincoln Abroad and on the editorial boards of The Lincolnator, and the Lincoln Herald, where, in January, he became the Book Review Editor.

For eight years, Silverman also served two elected terms on the Rock Hill School Board.

This event is free to the public. The ALLM is located on the main campus of LMU in Harrogate, Tennessee.