Liberty, Now and Then Conversation Series: Past Tense – Turning to History in Uncertain Times

In partnership with Carpenters Hall, NLM is proud to host this topical conversation about the power of history.  

VIP ticket holders are invited to join a pre-event reception. Tickets include an exclusive cocktail reception with hosts and panelists, with remarks from Don Wildman. Sales will benefit the Carpenters Hall Recovery Fund.  

Our relationship with the past has vast influence over our sense of self in the present, as well as the trajectory we take into the future. Yet our understanding of history is rarely monolithic; it is a complex landscape shaped by a range of perspectives, agendas, and experiences.  

NLM brings together a panel featuring Michael Idriss, African American Interpretive Fellow at Museum of the American Revolution; Don Wildman, host of Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum and the podcast American History Hit; and Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, in a discussion examining the complex power that history holds over the future, and what’s at stake in the battles we wage over interpretations of the past in our museums, our classrooms, and on our screens.   

Doors Open 5:30 pm

VIP Reception 5:30-6:30 pm (Tickets include an exclusive cocktail reception with hosts and panelists, with remarks from Don Wildman)

Panel Discussion 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Click to Purchase Tickets

$40 VIP Ticket, $20 General Admission, $10 for NLM Members
All ticket levels include access to the museum.

SPEAKERS

Don Wildman

Don Wildman has spent decades on television asking the eternal question, “What happened here?!”  A history adventurer, Wildman’s onscreen investigations have addressed the most vexing mysteries of our worldly past—whether scaling remote, red-rock cliffs in Ethiopia to understand unusual Christian practices or diving Newfoundland icebergs to float a new theory about Titanic’s sinking or slogging through London sewers to track Jack the Ripper’s escape route, Don seeks out fabled history in its hardest places, inviting his television audience along.

The long-time presenter of Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum, Don currently hosts the fast-growing podcast, American History Hit–new episodes, every Mon/Thurs.

Michael Idriss

An educator and storyteller with a passion for history and for his hometown of Philadelphia, Michael Idriss is the Museum of the American Revolutions’ African American Interpretive Fellow, managing all aspects of the African American Interpretive Program, funded by Comcast NBCUniversal. Idriss was previously an awarding-winning Philadelphia tour guide, leading historical experiences centered around stories of early Philadelphia and the contributions of people of African descent. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history where he also minored in Africology/African American studies at Temple University.

Jonathan Zimmerman

A former Peace Corps volunteer and public school social studies teacher, Dr. Zimmerman holds a Ph.D. in history from the Johns Hopkins University. He is a historian of education and is currently is a Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. His scholarship has focused broadly on the ways that different peoples have imagined and debated education across time and space. He has authored books about sex and alcohol education, history and religion in the curriculum, Americans who taught overseas, and historical memory in public schooling. His most recent work examines campus politics in the United States, the teaching of controversial issues in public schools, and the history of college teaching.

MODERATOR 

Layla A. Jones is a reporter whose community-based reporting has helped bring visibility and financial support to underserved neighborhood organizations, earned free repairs for property owners who sustained damages in a police shootout, and brought increased attention to a particularly dangerous North Philadelphia corner. Layla recently wrapped the Philadelphia Inquirer’s year-long More Perfect Union project, which explored Philadelphia’s role in creating historic institutional racism that persists today. She’s currently the economic equity reporter at the Inquirer, where she covers how policy impacts people’s finances.