The lack of progress, real or perceived, in achieving political or social equality can make the past appear less inspiring. HistoryAsItHappens podcast
This is the second in a two-part series of conversations recorded at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello as History As It Happens goes on location, with special guests historian Alan Taylor and Brandon Dillard, Monticello’s director of historic interpretation and audience engagement.In 1776, Thomas Jefferson articulated the most radical ideal of the 18th century: universal equality.
The very radicalism of the American Revolution can be lost, however, in our pessimistic and bitterly divided politics. The lack of progress, real or perceived, in achieving political or social equality can make the past appear less inspiring. This presents institutions such as Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello with a difficult challenge because some visitors to the historic site in rural Virginia are carrying emotional or ideological concerns about the past.
To some, Jefferson was a visionary leader. To others, his considerable accomplishments are tarnished by his lifelong ownership of enslaved Blacks and his relationship with Sally Hemings, with whom, most historians now agree, he had four children who lived to adulthood – all enslaved like their mother., Alan Taylor and Brandon Dillard talk about how the “history wars” affect the task of interpreting the past for Monticello’s visitors.
“The Thomas Jefferson Foundation that owns and operates Monticello doesn’t make these decisions on its own. We interpret history based on the advisement of academic scholars,” said Mr. Dillard, responding to
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History As It Happens: HAIH at Monticello, Part 2: The History WarsThis is the second in a two-part series of conversations recorded at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello as History As It Happens goes on location, with special guests historian Alan Taylor and Brandon Dillard, Monticello's director of historic interpretation and audience engagement. The 'history wars' have reached Monticello. Visitors to Thomas Jefferson's old plantation in rural Virginia often bring their emotional or ideological baggage. But is it possible to talk too much about slavery at a historic plantation? How does an institution such as Monticello present Jefferson's successes and failures to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who visit each year, many of whom revere Jefferson, his radical ideals, and his remarkable mind? Listen to Alan Taylor and Brandon Dillard talk about the challenge of interpreting the past in our divisive political environment.
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