Current Project: Who Tells Your Story: Fictionalizing US History, 1630-1918

“’Hamilton’ and History: Are They In Sync?” asked a 2016 headline in the New York Times.  The answers given to this question, provided by a variety of historians from Eric Foner to Lyra Monteiro, focused on how well Hamilton conforms to various sets of facts. The show either chooses to stretch Alexander Hamilton’s anti-slavery ideology beyond reality, or it does well in capturing his role as a notable abolitionist of the period. It places actors of color in roles based on largely white people and elides the actual contributions of black Americans, but also serves as a realistic depiction of the tangled political complications of the era. Hamilton—as well as other fictionalized accounts of historical people and events across a variety of media—gives scholars of all levels the opportunity to interrogate what it means to be “in sync” with history.

Since this week I am continuing work on my Widenor application, I thought I'd give an update on my current vision for the course. My plans have changed since I wrote last week due to the release of an updated list of courses. My course, “Who Tells Your Story: Fictionalizing US History, 1630-1918,” sets out to explore US history through fictionalized accounts including film, literature, musical theatre, and video games. What does it mean to fictionalize history, and how do we determine whether such a fictional treatment is “good” or “bad”? What liberties can one take with a person or event, and what must one portray faithfully? What does a particular piece of fictionalized history tell us about the time it depicts, and what does it tell us about the time in which it was created? How does the medium of the work make it particularly well- or poorly-suited to convey aspects of historical thought? This course encourages students to ask and provide multiple answers for these questions.

Material for the course will be drawn from a diverse variety of media, and materials assigned will be chosen through consideration of both pedagogical value and accessibility.

One thing I want to highlight a bit further than I have so far is the "What's History?" angle of these fictional pieces. My goal is not just to examine what media can tell us about history, but also how it engages with ideas of making history. As mentioned last week, Hamilton engages with not only historical facts but with the practice of history itself. Many works raise similar questions about historical practice. I intend to use this course to suggest that the practice of history is just as significant to their lives-- perhaps more so-- than the cohesive facts or narratives which these practices uncover or create. 

Any favorite works of fiction that are historical in some way? Any works that you consider particularly good at conveying the realities of historical practice?

What's History: "Burn" and Historical Agency

I'm currently working on an application to teach a stand alone course for HIST 270, United States History to 1815. I am enthusiastic about the possibility of teaching this course because I see it as an opportunity to follow themes of race, gender, sexuality, and ability into a period which is not technically within my wheelhouse. The prelim readings I did on the colonial and early American periods last year were fascinating to me because I had much less knowledge about these periods than the later years, and I'm eager to have the chance to incorporate some of the insights of those books into a course.

However, I'm also interested in incorporating modern connections, and so (like approximately 800,000 other history instructors out there) I have been incorporating some materials from uber-popular Broadway hit Hamilton. I've previously used a song cut from the final version of the show, Cabinet Battle 3, to illustrate the ways in which US founding documents pushed the issue of slavery further down the road. When I saw the show in Chicago from seats that I'm pretty sure were in an adjacent zip code to the stage, I was struck by the show's interest in the historical method. This is sort of an obvious connection in the closing number-- "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?" is clearly evoking questions about how we remember history and who gets to be a historical figure with a "legacy." However, I was most intrigued by the role of the historical process in Eliza Hamilton's song "Burn." The song occurs in the show's second act, following Alexander Hamilton's publication of the details of his extramarital affair.

Eliza's comments get at the ways in which historical actors (sometimes in ways that frustrate us) control the telling of their stories even centuries after their deaths. "I'm erasing myself from the narrative," she asserts, and "Let future historians wonder how Eliza reacted when you broke her heart." It's easy to talk about the ways in which people unintentionally reveal aspects of themselves in the records and objects their lives leave behind. The problem of what they have led us to believe through the presence or absence of particular items is thorny. Acknowledging this fact reminds us that the practice of history is less a narrative than a conversation, not only between a historian and other historians, but also between historians and sources and historical actors themselves.

I hope to use the song to engage in a discussion about ways in which people can and have shaped their own images in the historical record and how this activity continues. Susan B. Anthony performed a similar action by burning a vast quantity of her own archive. Lisa Tetrault suggests that this meant accounts authored or approved by Anthony "would become the source" for information about her life and suffrage activities (The Myth of Seneca Falls, 182).  I'll also incorporate some questions for discussion which link this idea to broader questions about historical practice and students' day-to-day lives:

How much is the historical record shaped by people's choices about what to save or destroy?

Why might someone destroy their papers? How might we figure out information about that person anyway?

What items or records would document your life? What could you add or remove to change the story?

Related Links:

There are quite good analyses at genius.com's lyrics page of the song, including in-depth breakdowns of the lyrics and a gif or two.

A piece at Mic on the "secret meaning" of the song (is it really that secret, though?)