In the early days of 1776, Thomas Paine, in Common Sense, issued a call to action to the colonies, “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Now, 250 years later, as we commemorate the founding of our nation, this sense of immediacy continues to ring true. Reinvention and innovation have never been more vital – and yet, I believe, our need for history and context to guide us forward has never been more relevant.
This summer, history is all around us. Through documentaries, feature films, exhibitions, books, podcasts, shortform videos and historical reenactments, we can find history everywhere. The stories we tell about the past have never been more alive, or more accessible. As media formats have transformed, so too have the possibilities for historical storytelling. The acceleration of technology has been a boon for the world of history, creating new ways to reach audiences hungry to learn more about the past. These formats have also widened the range of stories being told, giving a new generation of history fans the opportunity to discover and share stories about people and events long left out of traditional narratives.
This is what anchors us to something larger than ourselves, a broader, shared experience that connects us across time. When done well, history doesn’t just tell us where we’ve been. It illuminates the questions we’re still wrestling with today and quietly points us toward answers, if we’re willing to look. It contextualizes the present with the past, and above all, it is a powerful reminder that the resilience of the human spirit has always found a way to carry us forward, to places we couldn’t have dreamed possible.
