In 1901, Mary Borglum and a classmate were the first two women to earn doctorates at Berlin, and The New York Times commented at the time that she was "probably the most accomplished woman in the world."
He was named after his father's favorite president, Abraham Lincon, who, probably not coincidentally, was the subject of the work that made Gutzon's national reputation as a sculptor.
Even before it premiered in a small New York theater in May 1924, the play caused controversy because it depicted a relationship between a white woman and a black man.
