The institution that helped build the United States, then nearly tore the nation apart. Slavery, the ultimate embarrassment for a country founded on the principles of freedom and equality, is still a touchy subject 140 years after Lincoln’s proclamation.
Amid debates about reparations and responsibility, many would prefer to keep America’s great skeleton in the closet. Douglas Wilder is not one of them. His grandparents were slaves. He’s the former governor of Virginia. And for more than a decade he’s been fighting to put the peculiar institution on display by building a National Slavery Museum.
Some argue that putting whips, leg chains, and branding irons behind glass is just asking for trouble, but he believes that to move forward America must confront its demons.
Guests:
L.Douglas Wilder, former Governor of Virginia, Distinguished Professor, Center for Public Policy, Virginia Commonwealth University, and founder of the National Slavery Museum
Carol Swain, Professor of Political Science, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University, and author of “The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration.”