In "Master Harold". . .and the boys, Sam considers Abraham Lincoln "a man of magnitude" because Lincoln fought for social justice. Before Sam names Lincoln as a man of magnitude, he tells Hally that he had been reading through Darwin's book On the Origin of Species, and he found a chapter titled "The Struggle for Existence." Sam at first was heartened by such a title because he thought that Darwin would discuss the struggles that people go through, such as the struggle that he as a black man living under apartheid experiences. However, the chapter according to Sam was just about "mistiltoe [sic]." Sam thinks that a true man of magnitude is one who works for the greatness of all mankind, so Abraham Lincoln gets his vote for his role in freeing slaves in America. Although Hally suggests that Sam has "never been a slave" and that South Africans freed blacks in the country, Sam understands that his people are certainly not yet free.
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