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In the wake of nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd in May, some protesters have taken to toppling statues of figures from history they say practiced or endorsed slavery or white supremacy. The main targets have been monuments to the Confederacy.

But some protesters have gone further. Statues of Christopher Columbus have come down, and there have been attacks on statues ranging from George Washington to Francis Scott Key, writer of the national anthem, to Union war general and president Ulysses S. Grant.

Donald Trump has seized the opportunity to engage in the culture wars he sees as a main plank in his re-election campaign. On July Fourth, he assailed anarchists and agitators.

We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children, the president said in a speech on the South Lawn. And we will protect and preserve (the) American way of life, which began in 1492 when Columbus discovered America.

But have a large group of Americans really turned against the American way of life? As some have pointed out, the same Independence Day weekend of Trumps fiery speeches at the White House and Mount Rushmore, the most popular quarantine entertainment was (Revolutionary War drum roll, please) Hamilton.

The Broadway musical about Alexander Hamilton began to stream on Disney Plus last week. Media analyst Apptopia says the channel saw a 74% increase in paid subscribers over the previous four weekends, and Hamilton was 2020s biggest content launch, measured by downloads, outpacing Frozen 2. You heard that right: the Founders beat Frozen.

The production is a movie version of the 2015 musical written by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda and based on Ron Chernows biography. It follows the life of Hamilton, who immigrated from tough circumstances in the Caribbean to become a hero of the American Revolution, a significant figure in the ratification of the Constitution and the first U.S. treasury secretary.

Hamilton employs color-blind casting to tell the story with Black and minority actors in the roles of figures like George Washington, James Madison, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson and Lafayette, the French revolutionary for whom Fayetteville is named. The musicals action is carried along by strong vocal performances and choreography, with the songs ranging from hip-hop to ballads to more traditional show tunes.

We believe, however, that Hamilton is beyond a mere popular entertainment. We believe it should be included as a supplement to school students history education across the country. It would make the American story more accessible to an increasingly diverse nation.

Hamilton turns the Founders into reachable, relatable men. They are not cast as the perfect heroes too often presented to generations of bored school students unsmiling, austere figures to be admired on statues in the public square.

The musical is also written as an immigrant story. It is a message that is always timely in a nation of immigrants, but particularly so since the country took a harder line against immigration, legal and illegal, after Trumps election in 2016.

We do not mean to take credit from those great history teachers who manage to make history and historical figures alive for their students, no matter the era covered. Hamilton as an educational supplement can help those teachers who struggle to do so, or who are trying to bridge a cultural divide in their classrooms.

The characters in Hamilton operate not just in the national interest but also out of passions, jealousies and self-interest. In the musical, Hamilton himself must deal with an embarrassing and destructive scandal he brought on himself. In this presentation of diverse humanity, young people can see themselves in the imperfect people depicted despite the separation of nearly 250 years between them and the men and women in the narrative.

More importantly, youth can clearly see that the ideals of freedom, equality, vision and bravery transcend race, culture or time. They can see that in the great sweep of history, American ideals are more important than those periods when the countrys institutions failed to live up to the ideals.

Martin Luther King Jr. was effective in advancing the cause of equality for Black Americans because he called on the country to do both a simple and hard thing: Believe and practice the words already written in its founding documents.

As King said in his historic 1963 speech, his own dream was deeply rooted in the American dream.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

The power of former President Barack Obamas story was that youth of any background could look at his becoming president and say, I can do that, too.

Hamilton in its own way contains the same, hopeful message.

The Fayetteville Observer

Originally posted here:
'Hamilton' can be used as an educational tool - Laurinburg Exchange