{"id":277,"date":"2018-05-01T20:50:51","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T00:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/?page_id=277"},"modified":"2018-05-06T15:54:38","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T19:54:38","slug":"patrick-henry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/26-richmond-protests\/patrick-henry\/","title":{"rendered":"Reenactment Culture in Virginia: Visions of a White Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Each summer Sunday <\/span>in Richmond, Virginia, St. John\u2019s church holds a historical reenactment of an event almost 250 years old. The reenactment <\/span>of Patrick Henry\u2019s <\/span>\u201cGive me Liberty of Give <\/span>me<\/span> Death\u201d speech <\/span>at the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, features an <\/span>all-white male cast who play George Washington and Thomas Jefferson<\/span> and other \u201cfounding fathers\u201d in attendance that day<\/span>. The St. John\u2019s Church <\/span>website<\/span><\/a> refers to <\/span>Henry\u2019s speech as \u201cimmortal,\u201d<\/span> and <\/span>bills that reenactment as <\/span>a \u201cmust see landmark for anyone interested in the unive<\/span>rsal struggle for human rights.\u201d<\/span> <\/span>The Patrick Henry reenactment allows the audience to participate in voting \u201cyes\u201d to taking action against tyranny and repression. This event, which holds a special significance to Virginias, as the proclamation for war and independence occurred in their state, is attended by thousands of people a year. Nationalism and pride in one\u2019s country are two qualities taken seriously in our country, as many believe they hold us together and encourage work towards common goals. This is especially true in the commonwealth of Virginia, as state with over 400 years of history and was a critical place in not only the founding of the United States, but in the preservation of the nation and the ideals it represents.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>While this speech is iconic in U.S. history as one of the first rallying calls for independence and revolution, the reenactment itself is an indicator of something else entirely than the concept of freedom. <\/span>Done in the nostalgia of <\/span>a time in U.S. history in which the themes of <\/span>self-determination and protest<\/span> were a crucial part of being an American<\/span>, the Patrick Henry reenactment <\/span>allows the audience to participate in voting \u201cyes\u201d to taking action against tyranny and repression. <\/span>However, <\/span>centuries later this exact moment in time, a time where blacks, women, indigenous people, and all other minorities were not only not included in the convention, but <\/span>excluded from society, continues <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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to be reenacted and celebrated speaks to the moments in history Americans still identify as the most important. <\/span><\/p>\n

Reenactment has taken many forms in Virginia, whether as hired actors in Jamestown and Williamsburg<\/span> to the Civil War <\/span>enthusiasts<\/span><\/a> who reenact the clash of Union and Confederate soldiers on the weekends. <\/span>These reenactments span centuries, from the <\/span>English encounter with the <\/span>Powahatan<\/span> nation <\/span>in 1607 to the reenactment of the Battle of Appomattox in 1864. It is an interesting concept to think that each day thousands of paid actors dress up in costumes and play the part of our historical countrymen and women. These reenactments are done in the effort to preserve history and promote memory and comradery among its U.S. visitors.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet the ritual reenactments act as an indicator of something more than a simple celebration of liberty. The reenactment of \u201cGive me Liberty of Give <\/span>me<\/span> Death\u201d is, like the wider historical reenactment culture to which it is a part, fueled by a nostalgia for an earlier age where white men ruled America politically, culturally, and socially. Both the convention of 1775 and its twenty-first century recreation write out the American indigenous people and women of all races. <\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he act of attempting to relive the past, whether for personal pleasure or monetary compensation has become a rather controversial topic in modern discussion. <\/span>Although <\/span>according to <\/span>cultural studies scholar, <\/span>Vanessa Agnew<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>some see <\/span>reenactment as <\/span>a result of Americans turning towards an interest in history, especially when the subject was well neglected by the public for generations, <\/span>others believe that in recreating events or actions from the past, we <\/span>are not able to truly move forward from<\/span> the thought processes and social constructs from the periods in which are being reenacted<\/span>. <\/span>In an effor<\/span>t to make the past \u201ccome alive\u201d<\/span> reenactments obscure as much as they reveal, rending invisible non-elite and non-white peoples from the narrative of American histor<\/span>y. <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Reenactments are also a source of big revenue for <\/span>the foundations and organizations that employ the reenactors, with the Foundation of Colonial Williamsburg totaling its assets at <\/span>$18.5 <\/span>million<\/span> in 2014. Visitors come looking for and authentic experience, one they can see in both their heritage as Americans but also as a piece of themselves and how far we have progressed. Richard Handler writes in <\/span>The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>\u201cUltimately these visitors come\u2026to learn about \u2018the past\u2019, \u2018their past\u2019-the collective truth about the way life \u2018really was\u2019 back at the foundi<\/span>ng of the great American <\/span>nation.\u201d<\/span>This<\/span> search for a connection with the past <\/span>was not embedded in the desire to learn exclusively about gr<\/span>eat men in history, but rather to find <\/span>the <\/span>truths<\/span><\/a> <\/span>in the historical stories themselves and find their relationship relative to the cultural context they were made, which gives<\/span> each person in attendance to these reenactments the opportunity to identify with one part of the historical story that was and continues to be made up of multiple voices. <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span>Although done under the pretense of historical accuracy, reenactments in Virginia lack vital components <\/span>of the rich and deeply complicated periods of time in which they attempt to tell the story, particularly in terms of race and gender. <\/span>The men being celebrated for their words at St. John\u2019s church in 1775 were <\/span>slave owners, men who believed liberty was only applicable to them and no one else in the wider mosaic that was the 13 colonies. <\/span>However, through this act, the audience is reminded of this time in which freedom only applied to white, cis men and the all-white cast at this reenactment only reinforces the fact that nothing has truly changed in the last two and half centuries for the minorities not present at the convention<\/span>. Through these reenactment foundation\u2019s exclusion of non-white people<\/span>, they continue to control the history and its consequences as a learning tool in the present, causing others to ask whose history is truly being presented at reenactments and forces observers to recognize the <\/span>multitude of people left out of the story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The very setting and pageantry surrounding the reenactment reinforce the message that this is official American history<\/span>. <\/span>The honoring of army, navy, air force and national guard veterans at the beginning <\/span>of the reenactment indicate this is an official event, one sanctioned not only by those who perform, but also by the traditions of the state. This gives the reenactment itself authority <\/span>in its political correctness <\/span>and a sense of authenticity <\/span>through state approval. Through this connection to the government, <\/span>the reenactment<\/span> has a sense of power over those present as the actions and words observed are in a sense indorsed by the government, making them <\/span>untouchable to the public.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although <\/span>reenactments continue to draw numbers of tourists each year in the commonwealth of Virginia, <\/span>social changes have resulted in increasingly <\/span>declining numbers <\/span>of people willing to attend and pay for this type of historical preservation. <\/span>Seeing drastically lower numbers than in years past, <\/span>“<\/span>seismic shifts<\/span><\/a> in America’s cultural and economic landscapes over the years had done serious harm to Colo<\/span>ni<\/span>al Williamsburg’s bottom <\/span>line.\u201d<\/span>Whether<\/span> this decrease in attendance is due primarily to <\/span>Millennials\u2019 fiscal decisions or <\/span>a different cause, it is evident in the numbers that as the years go on, the number of people who <\/span>visit <\/span>Williamsburg and other historical reenactments is projected to continue to drop. \u201cFor <\/span>Colonial Williamsburg<\/span><\/a> to succeed-ironically, to remain the same in the most critical ways-it would have t<\/span>o change in others,\u201d<\/span> one of these ways <\/span>should include incorporating more narratives into the story it tells of U.S. history as well as a more diverse group of actors. <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The reenactments that bring so much t<\/span>ourism and interest to the commonwealth<\/span> of Virginia also <\/span>exacerbate historical patterns of segregation and racial exclusion<\/span>. By omitting African Americans, along with other minorities, from the reenactment culture, their voices and perspectives <\/span>are not represented not only in the present for their audiences, but in the future. <\/span>A new way of thinking about reenactment is possible. <\/span>Indeed, <\/span>i<\/span>n the years following the example set by the producers and cast of <\/span>Hamilton<\/span><\/a>, the face of scripted U.S. historical moments is changing. Society expects a wider variety of America\u2019s people to be represented in these moments that are generated for amusement and pride. <\/span>Going forward, it will become increasingly crucial for reenactment culture to include<\/span> the perspective and faces of people of color<\/span>. <\/span>It is time reenactment culture catch up to the present day in terms of <\/span>inclusion of all people and tell the real story of America\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Further Readings<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Handler and Eric Gable,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at <\/span>Colonial Williamsburg<\/span>. Duke University Press, 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tony Horwitz,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War<\/span>. Pantheon <\/span>Books, 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n

James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, eds. <\/span>Slavery and Public History: T<\/span>he Tough Stuff of <\/span>American Memory<\/span>. New York: New Press, 2008<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each summer Sunday in Richmond, Virginia, St. John\u2019s church holds a historical reenactment of an event almost 250 years old. The reenactment of Patrick Henry\u2019s \u201cGive me Liberty of Give me Death\u201d speech at the Second Virginia Convention on March … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2867,"featured_media":0,"parent":178,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-277","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2867"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/277\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/rvaprotest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}