Nash, UCLA historian, discusses Liberty Bell
Students heard UCLA historian Gary Nash’s explanation of the controversial new Liberty Bell exhibit last Thursday evening at the Spring semester’s Coverdell Liberty Lecture at GC&SU.
The Lecture, entitled “For whom does the Liberty Bell Toll?”, discussed the significance of the movement of the Liberty Bell to a new pavilion on the site that was formerly occupied by the presidential mansion when Philadelphia was our nation’s capital in the 1700s.
The Mansion, called the Morris House, also contained slave quarters that housed George Washington’s slaves. Two of Washington’s slaves escaped while living at the Morris House, Nash said, citing a “Thirst for complete freedom” as her reason for leaving and saying that she “would rather suffer death than return to slavery.”
“We are taught in history class that the freedom of our country was earned by big names, but Nash gave freedom a different perspective,” Megan Scott, a sophomore history major, said. “It’s cool to think that on the same plot of land that our Liberty Bell stands, and the house occupied by our first president, so does the story of two African American slaves who fought for their own freedom.”
Nash, a Philadelphia native, and a group of other historians raised the issue that the story of the black slaves who had lived on the site was being ignored- undermined, even, by the glossed -over story of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell that we all remember.
For Nash, the idea was to give those who toured the site “food for thought rather than just a warm feeling about the cracked bell.”
Nash wanted the public to realize that the struggle for freedom from England was paralleled by the struggle of black slaves under the oppression of their masters. The Liberty Bell, Nash said, with its inscription of “proclaim liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof,” represented a double standard that would take decades resolve.
“I hope (those who attend the lecture) will learn a lot about Philadelphia as our nation’s capital in the 1790s, and how slavery and freedom were commingled right there in the president’s mansion how the Liberty Bell story is a fascinating one, but one that should compel us to think about these issues of slavery and freedom and how closely intertwined they were,” Nash said.
Nash’s assertions are not without their critics. Senior information systems major Mark Armstrong called Nash’s arguments “slanted”.
“I feel like he took away from the bigger historical picture and focused on a part that was not as big as the Liberty Bell itself,” Armstrong said.
Regardless of personal opinion, students agreed that the Coverdell lecture series is an important supplement to their academic classes.
Katie Harmon, a junior art history major, said she thinks the lectures like Nash’s are a great opportunity for students to interact with experts in fields that interest them.
“If there’s something that you’re interested in, having a historian come to campus is great because they shed so much light on so many details you otherwise wouldn’t get in a classroom unless you’ve been reading on your own,” Harmon said. “It’s really nice to have someone up there who has pictures, who has books that he’s written himself. It’s really cool to meet someone who’s so passionate.”
Nash received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Princeton University. He has been teaching at UCLA since 1966. His latest book, “The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America,” discusses the role of African Americans, women and Native Americans in the American Revolution as well as other little-known aspects of the revolution.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 24 2006. Filed under News.
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