The national treasure that is Colonial Williamsburg is on the brink of joining
James Madison
’s Montpelier and other cultural institutions that have embraced “woke,” political-racial agitation in place of basic historical stewardship.
That is the big takeaway from an admirably
thorough new report
by Brenda Hafera of the Heritage Foundation.
MADISON’S FOUNDATION PUSHED ELEMENTS OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY
The Williamsburg developments provide yet more evidence that the political Left is waging a fierce, relentless culture war against Middle America. Alas, Middle America had already lost a lot of ground before it even knew a war was on.
Colonial Williamsburg identifies itself as “the world’s largest
living history museum
,” where the entire old section of what once thrived as the capital of Virginia is maintained in its 18th-century appearance while promoting the ideals of “freedom and human dignity, self-determination and representative government.”
While the establishment hasn’t yet surrendered completely to race-obsessed social activism, Hafera reports on “discordant notes” cropping up. Some tour guides push politicized narratives, with one writing that “the heart of all good interpretation is
provocation
.”
And, writes Hafera, “Beth Kelly, the vice president of education, research, and historic interpretation at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, asserted we need to commit ourselves ‘to the unfinished work of eradicating systematic racism.’” Hafera rightly comments: “This is not a portrait of history, but activism.”
Hafera also reports that Colonial Williamsburg is associating itself in more and more ways with a document developed at Montpelier commonly called “
The Rubric
,” a highly tendentious offshoot of critical race theory averring that “it is imperative that these institutions also unpack and interrogate white privilege and supremacy and systemic racism.” The rubric also says a historic site’s mission should include “addressing American history in
a spirit of restorative justice
.”
Well, no: Justice is a job for the civic arena, not for a museum.
Colonial Williamsburg is starting to forget that reality. The
Bray School Lab
, a refurbishment of what once was an 18th-century school for black children, is a joint project of Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary. Bray is adopting the rubric’s radical recommendations full-on. Rather than read historic documents as written,
Hafera explains
that “the prescribed research methodology is to use ‘sources to read between the lines’” while “placing
oral histories
on an ‘equal footing’” with more traditionally valid source materials.
The problem with oral histories is that they allow anti-historical narratives to take hold, such as (for instance) the fiction that someone is a descendant of Madison himself when the
evidence indicates otherwise
.
“Colonial Williamsburg is at a crossroads,” Hafera writes. It can imitate Montpelier’s bad example of trying to “reinterpret America as a nation defined by white privilege and systemic racism,” or it can “aspire to be like George Washington’s Mount Vernon, which is committed to historical standards and commemorating Washington’s and America’s story fairly, honestly, and modestly.” If too many crucial cultural institutions go
the way of Montpelier
, then “rather than united as self-governing citizens, we will become activists, divided by resentment and dispossessed of the dignity of our tradition.”
Hafera is right. It is enough for ordinary people to be taught the history, including that of slavery, without being browbeaten in favor of various political positions or actions going forward.
We can only hope that Colonial Williamsburg’s management resists the “woke” trend and stays true to its original, commemorative mission. Meanwhile, would-be visitors to it, to Montpelier, to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and to other museums should watch closely. If these institutions keep pushing angry, politicized nonsense, tourists should boycott them rather than patronize them. Starve the “woke” beast. Then, when it is weakened, defeat it.
