Reflecting on Revolution: Humanities to Go Programs for America’s 250th

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As Americans commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, three dynamic Humanities To Go (HTG) programs are bringing that era’s stories, images, and foundational concepts home to Granite Staters. 

With her HTG, “Portraits of a Revolution,” art historian and curator Inez McDermott draws audiences in to the years leading up to and the decades after The Revolution through portraits, which have information to share about our democratic values and ideals, just as founding documents do. People already know the iconography, says McDermott. They see these images on their dollar bills as well as in their museums. “There are things we look at all the time that are rooted in our history,” but we do not pause to consider them and how and why they were created.  

Artistic likenesses of political figures once might have inspired stronger and more immediate reactions. McDermott reminds us that Dolley Madison had Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Washington rescued from the flames of the White House when the British attacked in 1814. In the mid 1700s, a portrait of Governor Francis Bernard by John Singleton Copley hanging at Harvard provoked a somewhat different response from a group of Tories. They went into the college hall where it hung and stabbed out its heart. The same fate befell the first official portrait of Washington in Philadelphia. 

McDermott enjoys having the opportunity to share insights into these portraits and their contexts that her audiences may not know, including how American portraiture evolved out of—and also broke with—European portraiture traditions. More than anything, though, she wants people who come to her talks to understand that they “can read a portrait” and that portraits are primary sources. 

For storyteller and historical interpreter Mary Adams, the impetus for creating her HTG, “Redcoats and Rebels: NH and the American Revolution,” was the feeling that “New Hampshire shows up in history a lot like a side quest character” despite the fact that the state has made valuable contributions to the national story. When she talks about the Revolution in New Hampshire, she finds that what audiences most want to know is what those in small towns were doing during the war. To her, this is more than curiosity. It’s about finding our counterparts in the story. Alongside the famous risk takers exist people just trying to understand and live through what’s happening around them, people of conscience but not necessarily bold action. “I’ll be the first to admit I would not have been joining the Sons of Liberty or burning an effigy,” says Adams. She speculates that the curiosity her audiences feel about the “ordinary” men and women, not just the heroes and leaders, might have a lot to do with people trying to reckon with their own place in turbulent times today. 

For teacher and philosopher Josh Duclos, the conversation he wanted to have in this moment of reflection on national identity was something more fundamental. It’s the philosopher’s job, he says, to “pick out whatever those unquestioned axioms are and then asking the annoying question—but why.” His HTG talk is titled “Why Democracy?”   

“There’s a question mark at the end of that,” Duclos emphasizes, acknowledging that the punctuation mark sometimes makes people nervous. In his talk, Duclos shares the skepticism that great philosophers and political theorists have expressed about democracy’s usefulness and even its morality, not because he’s looking to upend democratic ideals but because he takes interrogation seriously.  

You can take people who “disagree on absolutely everything in the political realm and the one thing they agree on, almost unreflectively, is that democracy is a good thing and we’ve got to save it,” he says, though different individuals may have vastly different ideas of what saving it means or entails.  

“I know it’s the cliché of the philosophy professor in college to point at the chair and say Is the chair really there? ... It’s a parody, but yet it’s not. Philosophy takes something everyone thinks they know and says—give me an argument for it or imagine you’re faced with someone who says I disagree.”  In this case, Duclos wants his audiences to imagine an encounter with someone who’s never heard of democracy. 

Duclos has been impressed with the level of engagement and insight from people who come out for his HTG talk. Adams says the same. She finds the enthusiasm touching. “Whether there’s ten people or 75... these are people who are showing up, wanting to have meaningful, authentic conversations.” 

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“Whether there’s ten people or 75... these are people who are showing up, wanting to have meaningful, authentic conversations.”

- Mary Adams, Humanities to Go presenter
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More even than knowledge, or historical and political literacy, what might bring Humanities to Go audiences into their local libraries and historical societies and community centers is something missing for many in a time when we largely consume news and information by scrolling in isolation.  

Adams was struck by something the other day as she drove home from an event. “To me... having these discussions in a room together is not that far off from how people in Colonial America were experiencing their news and important events. They’re gathering at taverns. They’re gathering at meeting houses. They’re participating in a scrum of ideas... and to be able to even in the tiniest way replicate that in this room... [I think] people are coming because they want to connect with their community and connect with people who are interested and curious and sometimes anxious about the same things. They want to go to something that is intentionally slowing things down.” 

 

Katie Umans is Assistant Director at the University of New Hampshire Center for the Humanities, and serves on the New Hampshire Humanities Board of Directors.

If you belong to an organization that would like to host a Humanities To Go program like the ones described here, you can browse the catalog for programs, including 250th themed programs. Host organizations can choose from a variety of formats, including virtual. The next round of applications will be accepted starting July 1-15 for programs happening between August and October. Host organizations may be eligible for a stipend to cover some programming costs. 

 

"What’s the Big Idea?" is our blog highlighting Granite Staters' experiences and perspectives in the humanities– from local roots to global ideas. We hope these stories from many voices will ignite conversation and big ideas, helping shape our understanding of what it means to be human. Join us as we delve into New Hampshire’s culture, history, and contemporary issues, while reflecting on what it means to live a life enriched by the humanities. Share your thoughts and ideas with us–this is a space for conversation! We'd love to hear your ideas about a possible blog article. For more information, questions, or comments, please email us at info@nhhumanities.org.