Who Tells Your Story? On the Construction of Public Memory – A Faculty Panel

Whether within the United States or around the world, the construction of “public memory” is both important (especially to political leaders seeking to shape a particular civic consciousness) and controversial.  Who Tells Your Story (a title taken from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s culture-shaping musical about Alexander Hamilton as myth and symbol) is a collection of essays, edited by visiting professor Sanford Levinson, that examines various answers both within the United States and abroad.  How, for example, should Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, integrate the story of the Soviet struggle against Nazi Germany, into its national narratives—including, of course, maintaining monuments to Soviet leaders and soldiers?  We are all familiar with controversies surrounding the memorialization of Confederate “heroes.”  But what particular stories should we tell about, among others, Thomas Jefferson or Martin Luther King?  Discussing these, and other examples, will be Professors Levinson, Randall Kennedy (who contributed an essay on King), and Annette Gordon-Reed, the author of ground-breaking books on Jefferson and the editor more recently of a collection of materials on Jefferson and race. Join for lunch and what promises to be a fascinating discussion. The first 25 folks through the door will also get a copy of the book! Registration required.