TEACH 250: INSPIRING A MORE PERFECT UNION SESSION 3

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

tuesday, november 12, 2024

Leading up to the historic 250th anniversary of American independence in 2026, the Trust for the National Mall and National Mall and Memorial Parks are hosting Teach 250: Inspiring a More Perfect Union, a series designed to help prepare teachers for the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - exploring ways to celebrate, honor, commemorate, and dive deep into America's 250 years of history.

This third session of "Teach 250" explores 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?”  Join the National Park Service as we continue Teach250!  As you prepare your classrooms for the 250th, what did “Independence” mean in the eyes of a man often titled a Founding Father?  Our journey will continue to probe deeper into that essential question, what did “Independence” mean in the eyes of 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.