Description:
The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But does the nation begin in 1776, or do we trace its origins to some point earlier--for example, the arrival of the first enslaved people in 1619 or the initial settlement of Indigenous people? What's at stake with establishing a date that marks the nation's origins? Where does the history of the nation begin? In colonial New England, the Chesapeake, or in the Southwest?
In this unprecedented volume, leading thinkers come together to debate these--and many other--issues. Their conversation shows that U.S history is not just about what happened but who gets to tell the story and the political implications of the narratives we tell. The participants include two Pulitzer Prize winners: Nikole Hannah-Jones, who created the 1619 Project and ignited a national conversation about slavery and the nation's founding; and Annette Gordon-Reed, who documented Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings. The other specialists include experts in Asian American, civil rights, Native American, Latino, LGBT, and early American history.Brief description: WILLIAM STURKEY is an associate professor of history at the the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White and To Write in the Light of Freedom: The Newspapers of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools.
Review Quotes: In this lively and accessible volume, some of our most esteemed historians discuss the origin stories of the United States as we prepare to celebrate the semiquincentennial, ultimately debating the purposes of patriotism itself. Accompanied by a variety of founding documents and manifestoes, this is an excellent primer on the many meanings of 1776.--Nicholas L. Syrett "University of Wisconsin-Madison"