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Tours Quotes

“David sees it as essential that a guide be able to find the balance between telling the truth and not pushing people so much that they shut down. He told me that when you challenge people, specifically white people's conception of Jefferson, you're in fact challenging their conception of themselves. ...David knows that some visitors to Monticello arrive with an understanding of history that is not only misguided but also harmful. He has a difficult time disentangling this from the current political moment. "That's not the story of who we are," he said, referencing the language of Make America Great Again, "but some people really, for whatever reason, they want to believe that and they want to go back there, right? They want to go back to something that never existed.”

TruthHistorySlaveryNostalgiaAmerican HistoryWhitesThomas JeffersonTour GuidesMonticelloTours
Book:How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
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“Just as he did during the Slavery at Monticello tour, David did not mince words. "There’s a chapter in Notes on the State of Virginia,” he said to the five of us, standing in front of the east wing of Jefferson’s manor, “that has some of the most racist things you might ever read, written by anyone, anywhere, anytime, in it. So sometimes I stop and ask myself, 'If Gettysburg had gone the wrong way, would people be quoting the Declaration of Independence or Notes on the State of Virginia?' It’s the same guy writing.”

HistoryRacismAmerican HistoryAfrican AmericansBlacksPresidentsThomas JeffersonMonticelloTours
Book:How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
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