America at 250: Founding Myths, Useable Pasts, and Just Futures

In this special semiquincentennial event cohosted by Boston Review and Dissent, three distinguished scholars of history and politics—Adom Getachew, Aziz Rana, and David Waldstreicher—discuss their recent essays on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, reflecting on founding myths and unrealized ideals, revolutionary legacies and global contexts, and the ongoing conflicts over the meanings of U.S. history. In these counterrevolutionary times—marked by authoritarian crisis and imperial hubris—the search for a useable past, they show, continues to shape struggles for a just future.This conversation took place on June 29 and was moderated by historian Nikhil Pal Singh.Further Reading:“New Declarations” by Adom Getachew in Dissent“The American Revolution in Global Retreat” by Aziz Rana in Dissent“The Spirit of ’76” by David Waldstreicher in Boston Review“The American myth always came at someone else’s expense. Now, it’s all but collapsed” by Nikhil Pal Singh in The GuardianTo support work like this, please ⁠subscribe⁠ to the magazine or make a tax-deductible ⁠donation⁠.About the Panelists:Adom Getachew is Professor of Political Science and Interim Chair of Race, Diaspora & Indigeneity at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination and a contributingeditor at Boston Review.Aziz Rana is Professor of Law and Government at Boston College and a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is author of The Two Faces of American Freedom and The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them.David Waldstreicher is Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of several books, including Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification and, most recently, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence.Nikhil Pal Singh is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History at New York University. He is author of Race and America’s Long War and Black Is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy.