The great debaters

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Abraham Lincoln debated John Douglas Wednesday at the Capitol before nearly 120 Kentucky State University freshmen.

The mock argument " a recreation of a historic 1858 debate " was part of citizenship week at KSU, a week-long American Democracy project.

KSU Educational Outreach Coordinator Irma Johnson helped organize the week's events, which featured a number of civic oriented themes.

"We had an array of activities ranging from patriotic idol which we did on Monday to kick off, to constitution jeopardy which we're going to do (today) and then we're going to have a BET (Black Entertainment Television) party on Friday," Johnson said.

Wednesday's activities coincided with Constitution Day, the anniversary of the final meeting of the framers to sign the historic document. All federally funded institutions are required to acknowledge the day, according to Johnson.
"We spent the whole day doing constitution activities including a picnic, a fair, a mock election, we had a voter registration drive, we did a lot of constitution type questions and we ended up (at the debate), so we've enjoyed it immensely," she said.

The actors portraying Lincoln and Douglas " Eric Frantz and J. Barrett Cooper " performed the debate as they usually do at The Frazier International History Museum in Louisville.

Cooper said he enjoyed performing for the students at the House of Representatives chamber.

"This is absolutely phenomenal," Cooper said of the chamber.

The audience was made up of freshman because each new student is required to complete 10 hours of civic responsibility for a freshman orientation class, Johnson said.

"We've got about 700 new freshmen so we decided we would do a whole week of activities to give them some opportunities to be a part of the historic election, to be part of citizenship week in their own way," Johnson said.

KSU is hoping to register all students to vote in the November election as part of the week, something Johnson said is important for the students.

"I hope they understand that this is their chance for democracy in their age and its something they're going to have to acknowledge," she said.

"When you're part of something you don't realize the significance of it, but this is a very historical election."

"I'm hoping that they'll sit back for a second and look at it from a different perspective of how important it is."