A New Space for Our Ideals
Revolutionary-Era Buildings As Monuments
Many Americans visit Revolutionary Era sites to connect to our national founding story and ideals. These places were not built as monuments, but previous generations turned them into just that: Iconic places that venerate the past to create a collective American identity. Yet the stories embedded in these sites are often of white founding fathers with ideas that continue to inspire us, and actions that fall well short of their rhetoric. A New Space for Our Ideals asks us to reckon with the role these Revolutionary sites play as monuments in our society, and how we might view them as an invitation to a contemporary conversation about our national values.
Moderated by Cristela Guerra, arts and culture reporter for WBUR’s The ARTery, our panelists include:
- Gary Sandling, Vice President of Visitor Programs and Services at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation
- Nathaniel Sheidley, President & CEO of Revolutionary Spaces
- Kyera Singleton, Executive Director of the Royall House & Slave Quarters
- Karin Wulf, Professor of History at William & Mary and Director of the Omohundro Institute
This event is generously sponsored by the Lowell Institute.
