In this “emergency” episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake and Molly step away from their planned programming to confront a moment unfolding in real time. Recorded on Monday, January 26, the episode responds to breaking developments in public history.
The conversation begins in Philadelphia, where interpretive panels addressing slavery at the President’s House, just steps from Independence Hall, were quietly removed ahead of America’s 250th anniversary. The issue, Jake and Molly argue, is not simply about signage. It’s about erasure – and about who gets to decide which stories are told at the nation’s most symbolic historic sites.
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From there, the discussion widens. The episode turns to Minneapolis, to disturbing viral footage, to state violence, and to the dangers of controlling historical narrative during moments of political crisis. Drawing connections to 19th century labor massacres and the long struggle for civil rights, Jake makes the case that history is not safely confined to the past – it is unfolding around us, now.
This episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly explores:
- The removal of slavery interpretation at Independence National Historical Park
- Why monuments are not history – but interpretation is
- Naming the enslaved people erased from Philadelphia’s historic landscape
- Narrative control as a feature of authoritarian power
- Parallels between modern state violence and past labor repression
- Why history matters most when it is being challenged in real time
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Removing history? Didn’t the Democrats do that when they removed any statue or reminder related to the South’s position in the Civil War? This page is becoming way too liberal for me. Unfollowing. It was nice until you started injecting your liberal views.
And that’s your right.
I agree. I just joined but I’m out also. The freaks are everywhere!
And that’s your right.
Pointing out that this is literally removing/deleting history hardly makes one a *freak.* Goodbye.