Our Paradox

The telling of American history is heavily politicized these days. Attacks on so-called “critical race theory” stray close to the defensiveness of White nationalists. Calls to “honor America” by standing for the Star-Spangled Banner are controversial. We’re a nation sharply divided over what is “our” story as Americans, and what is not.

Mary Elliott, the Curator of American Slavery at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, saw this year’s July Fourth as an occasion when all Americans can “mark the nation’s independence and its paradox.” She noted that “the combined holidays of Juneteenth and July Fourth, that fall so close to one another on the calendar, provide a moment for all of us to consider the meaning and manifestation of a more inclusive freedom, even as the fight for justice continues.”…