Over the last few weeks, my book has begun to feel very real—and distressingly relevant. Recently, the Trump administration has increased its efforts to eliminate histories that it believes “disparage” famous Americans, often focusing on museums and National Park Service sites that share the history of slavery. While this effort has been sprawling, attempting to remove interpretation about climate change, LGBTQ+ people, women, and African Americans, the nation’s history of slavery has drawn particular focus.

Among the many Park Service sites that have had interpretive signage slated for removal is the President’s House site near Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The site tells the story of the people George Washington enslaved while serving as President in Philadelphia. In response, community groups in Philadelphia have protested the attempts to censor Washington’s history with slavery.

While the extent of the administration’s effort to whitewash this history is unusual and incredibly concerning, this effort to silence Washington’s history with slavery and effort from some Americans to keep it in the conversation is all too familiar. Time and again in our history, Americans have fought over how to understand Washington’s legacy of slavery. For both Washington’s promoters and detractors, he stands as the avatar of the nation itself, their view of the nation’s present state informing their view of how the history of slavery should be discussed. As Americans tried to shape the nation in the wake of Washington’s death, and then through the fight over slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and Black Lives Matter, the struggle to reconcile Washington’s role as both enslaver and liberator has vexed us.

I’ll have more to write about the present-day manifestations of this very old conversation, but for now I’ll just say that if you’re interested in a historical view of the controversies over Washington and slavery, I hope you’ll pre-order my book! You can do so here. The pre-order listing has also started making its way to other booksellers, if you’re so inclined.

Last week, I reviewed the final copyedits for the book manuscript and returned them to the publisher, marking the last time I can make any real changes to the text. So the book is officially finished. Between now and the end of the year I’ll review page proofs and then it’ll be on to production!

I’ve already started lining up some speaking events for the Spring, so if you’re interested in having me come talk about Washington, slavery, and public memory as we approach the 250th, please get in touch.

That’s all for now, more to come soon

JM