Independence revisited: Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, and the Unfinished American Story

Friday, December 13, 1 - 2 PM ET

Bring your students for a virtual classroom experience with park rangers from National Mall and Memorial Parks and Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, as we explore the different interpretations of "Independence," from the perspectives of two American leaders.

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” Seventy-six years later, Frederick Douglass laid bare the betrayal of those ideals as he asked, “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?”  Our journey will explore that essential question, what did “Independence” mean in the eyes of a Founding Father, and a man who was listed as a piece of property at his birth?  How can independence and enslavement coexist?  Through the eyes of Jefferson & Douglass we consider the unfinished work of achieving America’s ideals of a more perfect union.

This program is designed for students in 4th - 8th grade, but it is open to all.