How have generations of Americans remembered—and forgotten—George Washington’s involvement with slavery? I’ve written a book that explores this simple but urgent question. Titled Thy Will Be Done: George Washington, Slavery, and the Fight for American Memory, it will come out in 2026 with the University of North Carolina Press.

I’m starting this newsletter to share updates, reflections, and behind-the-scenes glimpses as I prepare for publication day. I hope you’ll subscribe to stay in touch and learn about my work over the course of the next year.

For more than two centuries, Americans have wrestled with the contradiction at the heart of Washington’s legacy: He was the most celebrated founder of a nation built on liberty—and one of the wealthiest and most prolific enslavers its early history. At his death, Washington orchestrated one of the largest private emancipations of enslaved people in the new republic. Since then, his memory has been endlessly debated, reinterpreted, and reimagined, especially when it comes to slavery.

This newsletter is where I’ll share insights from my research, stories that didn’t make it into the book, thoughts on current debates about history and memory, and—eventually—details about the book’s release, tour dates, and how to pre-order. Along the way, I hope it sparks reflection, questions, and conversation.

If that sounds interesting to you, I’d love for you to subscribe, share with a friend, or just follow along quietly in the background. More soon.

—John