Insight Pt. 1: David McCullough Prize for Excellence in American Public History

The Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia presented the third David McCullough Prize for Excellence in American Public History at the Museum of the American Revolution. In its first award year since the passing of its namesake, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, the prestigious honor celebrates individuals and organizations whose work engages the public and significantly impacts their understanding of American history. I speak to this year’s award recipient - Christy S. Coleman, Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. I also speak to the winner of the 2023 David McCullough Prize for Teaching, honoring educators in the Philadelphia area - Brittni Jennings, M.Ed., a teacher of African American History at Philadelphia’s Constitution High School as well as Carpenters’ Hall Executive Director Michael Norris.
https://www.carpentershall.org
www jyfmuseums.org and @jyfmuseums (FB, IG and TW)
Brittni Jennings- Social Media Instagram @afromationavenue

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning, Welcome to Insight,a show about empowering our community. I'm
Lorraine Ballot Morrow. This morning wecontinue our interviews with mayoral candidates. We
talk with former City council Member HelenGimm Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Saber Philsson on
important voter information, and will alsotell you about a community festival, Real
resources for real people. First.The philosopher George Santayana said, those who

(00:23):
cannot remember the past are condemned torepeat it. That's why we talk about
an event that shines a light onhistorians. Knowing our history helps us understand
our present and our future. TheCarpenter's Company of Philadelphia is presenting its third
David McCullough Prize for Excellence in AmericanPublic History at the Museum of the American
Revolution, in its first award sincethe passing of its namesake, David McCullum,

(00:47):
who is a Pulitzer Prize winning authorand historian. The prestigious honor celebrates
individuals and organizations whose work engages thepublic and significantly impacts their understanding of American
history. Years award will be presentedto Christie Coleman, executive director of the
Jamestown, Yorktown Foundation. The twentytwenty three David McCullough Prize for Teaching honors

(01:10):
educators in the Philadelphia area and willbe presented to Brittany Jennings, who is
a teacher of African American history atPhiladelphia's Constitution High And also joining us is
Michael Norris from Carpenter's Hall. Thankyou all for joining us here today.
I'm going to start with you,Michael. This event is being presented by

(01:32):
your organization. Tell us about theaward itself. Sure, yeah, So
the award was launched in twenty eighteen, and it was really designed to honor
the impact that David McCullough has hadon the understanding and value and appreciation for
history in our country. So hegraciously agreed to lend his name to the

(01:53):
prize, and we very specifically wantedto be the prize about public history,
right, so not just you know, writing scholarly tones that no one ever
reads, but you know, actuallyengaging citizens and understanding what history has happened,
whose stories have been told and havebeen told, and how do we

(02:15):
use history, as you said inyour introduction, to get people to understand
more about how our country was founded, and how our history has unfolded,
and how we can do better rightas citizens and as a nation to make
sure everyone understands that history and hasaccess to it. Christy Coleman, you're
receiving this award your executive director ofthe Jamestown Yorktown Foundation. First of all,

(02:38):
what is that foundation? But JamestownYorktown Foundation is in Williamsburg, Virginia.
We have two museums. One thatis focused on the English settlement of
Jamestown equally as much as the indigenousthat dotted the shorelines along the James,
so those that were part of thePalatin con iteration, and we have exhibits

(03:00):
and galleries and living history areas.And then we also have a museum in
Yorktown, Virginia that looks at theAmerican Revolution and its conclusion at Yorktown.
Christie, I wonder if you cantalk a bit about something that Michael referred
to, and that is there's historythat is written and spoken and shared,
and there is a lot of historythat is unspoken, unwritten and unknown.

(03:24):
And I can imagine that what youdo, in many respects is to be
able to help tell those stories,to fill in the blanks of American history
that might otherwise not be known,not be written. Tell us more about
your thoughts on that, certainly,So you know, the public history realm
is one where we draw on avariety of disciplines to help us reach the

(03:47):
public because, as Michael said,research has borne this out that most Americans
anyway, only about six percent gettheir understanding of history from a book.
Roughly thirty eight percent get their understandingfrom a visit to a historic site.
But what's really ironic and interesting isthat about sixty eight percent get it from

(04:10):
TV, film or video, right. And so at the museum we have
the capacity, At any public museum, we have the capacity to deploy all
of these sources to help reach theaudience where they are. That's what we
do, and so it's important topull in resources and help them understand perhaps

(04:30):
why they didn't learn about these thingswhen they were coming through. Help them
understand the process of history is notstatic, right, and that's part of
a challenge. Well, I didn'tlearn that when I was school, or
they're just making up stuff and they'rejust revising history. History is constantly being
revised by the scholarship that's being doneand Frankly, the things that we dick
up out of the ground, andhonestly, one of the greatest tools in

(04:54):
our toolblox now is actually genetic informationcoming from DNA studies is really providing a
ton of a wealth of information tous, especially when it's paired with archaeology.
Brittany, you're being honored as aneducator, and you are a teacher
of African American history at Philadelphi's ConstitutionHigh School, and I wonder if we

(05:15):
can talk about what the importance isof African American history, because African American
history is American history, right,It's something that needs to be incorporated into
all of our history. However,teaching that, I wonder if you can
discuss the value of knowing one's historyand what impact that has on one's development

(05:36):
of self, particularly among young blackstudents. Yeah. So, like you
said, I teach African American history. I've been teaching the subject for about
six years, and I find thatover its time, I learned that students
can't properly engage in interpretations of historyif they don't first have an understanding of
themselves. Our students come in witha positionality as a result of you know,

(06:00):
who they are born to where they'reliving, what their gender is,
or their races. And if theydon't have an opportunity to unpack that,
they then don't see the value ofinterpreting things of the past and then understand
how that has an implication on theirpresent in future. So for me,
you know, before we even talkabout you know, certain themes that is

(06:25):
a part of the course or acertain time periods, I start with the
students because I want them to understandthat we are made from history versus we
make history. Because you know,I think as students learn themselves and appreciate
their culture and identity, they alsohave to learn an appreciation of other cultures

(06:46):
and identities as well. Because youknow, although I teach African American history,
my students aren't all African American.I find that a lot of students,
you know, it's the first timethey're getting an African American history course
when they come see me. Iteach tenth grade students who have a lot
of them have been born and raisedin Philadelphia. They've been in the Philadephia
School District for a very long time. And as they see it, but

(07:08):
a lot of times in most instances, I'm their first black history experience,
if I can use that phrase.So I try to make sure that they
understand their value and their identity andtheir culture, and then what that means
to bring back to the table whenwe're talking about the history of black people
in this country, and how evenif they aren't identifying as black, they

(07:32):
will see themselves in those stories,and those stories then become personal to them.
Yeah, I love that, andI think as we hopefully become although
there's as we can see, there'sa lot of resistance to having this being
taught in our schools across the country. And yet what we do know is

(07:56):
that as we embrace the multitudes ofstories and contributions of all people from all
parts of American history, then wehave a better understanding of one another,
and we have a better understanding ofthe value of each other. And that
is really the nature of history,is that greater understanding of one another and

(08:16):
all of the things that make uswho we are. Michael Norris, very
briefly, by the time this interviewairs, you will all have received your
glorious awards, and then this fantasticevent will have passed. But I wonder
if you can briefly tell us aboutthe Carpenters Company of Philadelphia. We're a
very old organization. We were foundedin seventeen twenty four, so, and

(08:39):
we build Carpenters Hall, which isnow, of course, a National Historic
Landmark in Philadelphia's Historic District. Wehosted the first Continental Congress in seventeen seventy
four, so that's our foray intoquestions about history and citizenship and democracy.
Right were where Eric democracy began tojest state. So we take that responsibility

(09:03):
very very seriously in our programming andour interpretation. So the company was founded
as a trade guild and it stillexists as a membership association of architects and
engineers and builders, which a lotof people don't know. But there is
still a very active group of peoplewhose job it is to build stuff in

(09:26):
their professional lives, who are thestewards of Carpenter's Hall and of our mission.
And the McCullough Prize is a recentmanifestation of that commitment. Knowing our
history is going to help us informour present in our future. And the
Carpenters Company of Philadelphia is presenting thethird David McCullough Prize for excellence in American

(09:50):
Public History, which celebrates what historycan be for this country. And it
is honoring Christie S. Coleman,executive director of the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation,
receiving the twenty twenty three David mccolloPrize for Teaching, Honoring educators in Philadelphia,
Brittany Jennings, teacher of African Americanhistory at Philadelphia's Constitution Hall. And

(10:11):
we've course have Michael Norris from Carpenter'sCompany of Philadelphia, the host of this
David McCollum Prize. Thank you allso much for filling in the blanks of
this very rich country that we livein so that we may better make decisions
for the future of America. Thankyou so much for joining us today.
We'll have more insight after these messages.