at monticello we do the monticello teacher institute.chool teachers come and spend a week there and work on projects and create a curriculum which is available online at the monticello classroom. it has a lot of different lesson plans that engage some of the conversations we're talking about. we've begun a program with digital field trips where we have a guide skype with the classrooms so students can ask what they're thinking about. that's been immediately very popular. it's brand new. it's working well. we're working on revamping our website. we'll see how that goes. just a lot of work that, you're absolutely right, we hope to push forward and keep working with it. as for the colleges, the most we've ever had is five african-american interpreters, they were all from the university of virginia. you saying college students don't know what's going on. that to me is a loss. we know how important slavery is to all of us in discussions. if somebody can go and walk away and say we don't feel that come with having physical structures and they

you walk along monticello and it's narrated by an sesers of monticello. anybody can google that, find it on the app store and you can also use it when you're not at monticello. its real strength is doing exactly what you're saying and talking about how it changed over time. >> we also had an outdoor audio tour that helped people with buildings that might have been there outside of the interpretive period. we interpreted montpelier back to the retirement years. all the buildings that we're restoring on the landscape would have been there from 1837 to 1836. that's sort of the period we have chosen to interpret. not one year, but fudge it a little bit. >> thank you. >> i think we have time for just one more question. >> hello. my name is heather scarlet from kent state university in ohio. i'd like to know as museum directors and leaders, do you think that public memory is enhanced more by re-enact tors or by multimedia and digital items, such as podcasts and videos? thank you. >> are there re-enactors? >> at montpelier we use a james madison re-enactor and d

is that rather quaint next to monticello, the small mountain. that's where he began to cultivate the foreign vines. but unfortunately, my fellow citizens, they never rooted properly. there appears to be something in the soil here that prohibits their rooting. and that's a lament because i think the composition of our soil, the degree of our climate here, the altitude, precipitation is just as good as anything you can find throughout the kingdoms of europe to cultivate wine. but until wine becomes a necessity here in our nation, i doubt it will ever be successful. here in virginia, the labor, the efforts of productivity and cultivation must be put to three particular foremost cash crops. you know what they are, tobacco, tobacco, tobacco, in that order. so until we relieve ourselves from that, i doubt we will ever be successful in wine culture. mr. light, your next question, if you will. >> president jefferson, angela asks us, what plants lewis and clark sent you back during their great expedition. >> oh, my. angela, i have given instructions to t

two people enslaved at monticello. i'm sure the henning's family name is something that many people here recognize. i'll talk more about them as we go along. john hemmings was a master carpenter at monticello his wife was the head nurse made. they lived in a small way not unlike most small cabins for anyone living in the urban republic. white or black. that is what it looked like. so we noticed after building this that a lot of people had interesting reactions. we hear it. we hear it with the guests. they come out and say it's not so bad and on tours we would have guests say my great-grandfather lived in something way worse than that. the implication there is the obvious one which is thomas jefferson took care of his slaves. which is sometimes stated directly to you. so we had conversations about this. we can't get every single visitor on tour to engage with us in a dialog about this. there's a sign in vibrant letters, not so bad? underneath it talks about the realities of slavery having little to do with material thin

as you walk along monticello, you can look at it, you can see where things were. they'll tell their ancestor stories. anybody can google that real quick, find it on the app store. it's real strength in doing exactly what you're saying and how it changed over time. >> we also had an outdoor audio tour that helped people with buildings that might have been there outside the interpretative period. we tracked montpelier back to 1886, and that's the period we chose to interpret. >> i think we have time for just one more question. >> yes, hello. my name is heather scarlett from kent state university in ohio. i would like to know as leaders, do you think public reinforcement is enhanced more by reenactors or by things such as podcasts and videos? thank you. >> are there reenactors? >> at montpelier we use a james madison reenactor and a dolly madison reenactor who are highly vetted and very good at what they do. one guy reads the same newspaper madison would have read 200 years ago. he's great, he looks like madison, he's strange. i think when interpretation is done well

montpelier in 2015, she served in the state of montana and after that the thomas jefferson foundation in monticello. she also served as education director in the state of virginia along with many important roles here in the state. she is clearly one of the great stars in the virginia community. we're so thrilled to co-sponsor this lecture but have her speak to you all today. please join me in welcoming kat imhoff. [ applause ] >> well, i really am thrilled to be here, and i was joking that we obviously don't have a lot of oahu fans. but any of you, if you hear anything about the score, we'll pause to see what's going on. i have to start with a quote from dolley madison, of course. i sometimes wish myself with you for a while, for i love richmond, because there is so much soul, so much real kindness in its enlightened society. we remember her as the quintessential hostess, the stylish lady and the figure that helped rescue george washington's portrait. but for over a century after dolley madison, american companies used her name ice cream. they really crystalized her image into this ideal woman, the

before that, as vice president in -- for thomas jefferson's -- the thomas jefferson foundation at monticello. she's also served as executive director of the -- among many important roles here in the state. she is truly one of the great stars in the virginia museum community. we are so thrilled to cosponsored this lecture and to have her speak with all of you today. please join me in welcoming kat imhoff. [applause] >> i really am thrilled to be here, and i was joking that we obviously don't have a lot of -- but any of you who, if the score gets really interesting, if you could signal and we can pause to hear what's going on because it's starting here. i have to start this evening with a quote from key dolley madison, of course. i sometimes wish myself with you for a while, for i love richmond. there is so much soul, so much kindness in its enlightened society. this is 1812. so she did. there is so much that everyone knows, right, about dolley madison. we remember her as the -- americas quintessential hostess, the style setting first lady, and the heroic figure that helped rescue george washi

needed to complete and crew the station when finished it will rival the only other continuously monticello earth that's the international space station. this is his reminder our top story at this hour joe biden has delivered his 1st speech as u.s. president to the joint houses of congress as he revealed details of a $1.00 trillion dollars package to boost education and reduce income inequality. that's it you're up to date on world news at the top off the hour up next here on the focus on the europe looks at me coming elections in scotland the day. scotland is out across rights and main parts of britain only. be joining the e.u. on us in a place she is dividing the country and entire families in the run up to be elections the debate is heating up. problems quest for independent. focus on her. next on g.w. . ready to go to extremes. most places in europe are smashing all the records stepped in to move good adventure. just don't lose your grip it's interesting. trotters discover some of europe's record breaking sites. also in book form. trench it's. a lot of flashy with extravagant outfits an

some analysis from auckland we're joined by bernie smith who's the chief executive officer of the monticello your housing trust thanks so much for speaking to us on counting the cost the prime minister to send arthur and wasn't elected on the promise of housing affordable housing how's that going. it's not being very very well for the government to go. and frank the 4 year is. a safe prices have reputable a increased to the extent that it's actually creating homelessness and costing the government a $1000000.00 a day just a maybe unseen transitional hasn't so how did it get to the point where there is a chronic housing shortage with this present government would suggest that it was the previous. national government. but they know as well as we know on the ground that. decades. in the miking a by scouting once. the right and the left have that a real desire to have. a market driven economy because it means a healthy economy they haven't been building the houses at the level that they did in the fifty's and sixty's. a you know the population has gone from 2000000 to 5000000 a. we just in the s

we are not talking about removing monticello or mount vernon. monticello a disguise plantation, betty plantation nonetheless. we have to do the pruning. let's leave it. nothing will be lost in this story unless we have the kind of horrific, wholesale, soviet style cleansing of the system, and we are not about that. americans are strong enough to figure out how to tolerate the good and the bad. it is just for too long, we have permitted just one very narrow, superficial story to obtain. it is good to complicate it. it makes for great drama, great stories, great exhibitions. go to lonnie's original museum. i mean, this is by no means a picnic, and yet the fact that it produces these feelings in you are amazing, are transformative, and not just for african-americans, but for all of us, indebted to that museum for reminding us that this experience has got to be at the heart of our story. it is the original sin, as historians like to say. that is why we have to have our eyes open to it. george floyd gave us a huge opportunity. his teacher in houston

we're not talking about removing mount vernon a very obvious plantation or removing monticello a very disguised plantation, but a plantation nonetheless characterized as some classical hoo-ha and beautiful, but we're we got to do the pruning. you know, i'm not suggesting going into gettysburg and lopping off all the statues of robert e lee the battlefield there. let's let's leave there's an appropriate places. nothing will be lost in this story unless we have the kind of horrific wholesale, you know soviet, cleansing of the system and we're not about that. we're americans are strong enough. to figure out how to tolerate the good and the bad it's just for very too long. we've permitted just one very narrow superficial story to obtain and it's it's just good to complicate it. it makes for great drama. it makes for a great stories. it makes for great exhibitions you go to lonnie's original museum there. i mean, this is by no means a picnic. and yet the fact that it produces these feelings in you are are amazing our are transformative and not just for african-americans, but for all of us

maybe you have more information on that. >> what's the distance between montpelier and monticello?was trying to do it in the car. it's a little ways. we'll talk about retirement years, the few times james madison leaves his beloved montpelier is to visit thomas jefferson. we don't know, maybe, dolley madison's true opinion about a lot of people because she was often very cautious. what's significant is that thomas jefferson seemed to love her. even though she is conducting this social circle under his nose and he is a great hater, nobody hated like thomas jefferson. so the fact that he seemed to adore dolley speaks volumes about her. >> and chose her as the hostess when he needed one in the white house. >> yes. >> catherine is up next in houston. hi, catherine. >> hi, hi, thank you for taking my call. my question is, i know that dolley madison was raised a quaker and married her first husband, was a quaker, and was a member of the friends church, and she left it and married james madison. and i read stories about how her father freed his slaves and testimony to the abolition of sla

if you have been to monticello, you know, it's one of the three accomplishments that jefferson put on the center taff over his grave. jefferson was the author of the statute. and he declared that neither religious nor political leaders had any dominion over the faith of others. punishing people for their religious beliefs or declaring them unworthy of public office. was depriving them of advantages to which they had a natural, right? our civil rights jefferson wrote have no dependence on our religious opinions anymore than our opinions in physics or geometry. now again, madison and jefferson were on the frontier of thought here. it had long been believed that there should be an established church in the anglican church in the case of virginia, and that religious conformity had to be imposed. but madison and jefferson saw it differently. now the statute failed to pass when they first tried to get it through the virginia assembly. then jefferson went off to paris for five years and while he was gone madison, who was the sharpest politician among the founders? he saw an opportunity and h

the 1780s a pretty about record, politically speaking -- personally still enslaved hundreds peach monticello but a decent record politically speaking. try toesed to put a harsh denunciation of the slavery and the slay trade in the decoration of independence. >> who wrote it out? i had never read that before. he put into the declaration of independence that king george was responsible for our slave trade and some people said you can't put that in. >> the delegates from the deep south would have never signed on which was absurd, suggesting the king was responsible for foisting slavery on the liberty loving americans which was absurd. a harsh condemnation of the injustice of slavery he tried to but into the country's founding document. as you suggested he drew up a coup of different plans that would have gradually abolished slavery in virginia, and he also, i think in some ways even bigger move was a bill that he submitted to -- helped to draft nor confederation congress in 1784 that would have forbid slavery in all the western territories, north and south of the ohio river and this is really t

. >>> up next on "american history tv," representatives from thomas jefferson's monticello, james monroe's highland and james madison mont pilier talk about the questions they are asked. this was a meeting held recently in washington, d.c.

read on when we had tom ricks and she's a pulitzer prize winner who wrote about the hemmings of monticellolife with these ideals that have freed and liberated more people over the centuries than any other words, any other document and she said, and i know both tom ricks and i were taken aback, she said, well i'm sorry, what else do you want from a politician? as far as on the political side of things, to create language, to create a legacy that frees people two centuries later. >> you know, joe, this is first of all, this is a really interesting discussion and the piece in the post op-ed section that was really interesting and jeremy alluded to ittier when he talks about addressing classes when he was teaching public school. and the objective of the students would be well we're here to get a better job. and they talked about in the piece the concept of schooling as opposed to education. and there is one line in the op-ed that jumps out at you, schooling is not education, because education is, as you just outlined, joe, is the search for who you are. and studying the classics, no matter how

the twin lakes as they are known straddle the small community of monticello. in the really -- in the nearly 100 years since the two reservoirs were created by damming up the tippy canoe river, their far-reaching attraction has create add flourishing local economy built on tourism, recomplete with the trappings of a family vacation, including its own amusement park, cruise boat, resort marina, and much more. despite all the buildup of amenities of this hoosier destination, the lakes remain the focal point of the community. and the driving force of the regional economy. unfortunately, lake conditions can also have a negative impact on the local area. at the hands of mother nature an outside forces, these crown jewels of the region have been tarnished. on multiple occasions lake freeman because of drought conditions has been drained to the river bed that flows at the bottom. unfortunately, these episodes of diminished lake levels have come at increasingly frequent rate in recent years, and in times of even moderate drought conditions. these droughts caused the la

what a pleasure to greet you once more here on our mountain here at monticello. what a pleasure to be held outdoors amongst the wonders of nature, particularly that we can stand together underneath this live oak, one of my favorite places next to the fish pond to welcome the bloom of the snowball that is the tree behind

before that, as vice president and chief operating officer for thomas jefferson's foundation at monticello. she's also served as executive director of the president stroll aligns in virginia among many in portland -- here in the state, she is truly one of the great stars and virginia museum community. we're so thrilled to cosponsor this lecture but to have her to speak with all of you today. please join me in mill coming, cat. >> well i really am thrilled to be here and i was joking that we obviously don't have a lot of fans because -- but any of you, if the score gets really interesting, if you could signal. and will pause to hear what's going on. because it starting here. i have to start this evening with a quote from dolly madison, of course. i sometimes which myself with you for a while for i love richmond because there is so much soul, so much real kindness and it's unlike in society. this is from 1812. so she did. there is so much that everybody knows, right? about dolly madison. we remember. her, as the americas quintessential's service, the style first lady and of course the heroic