Since his death in 1826 Thomas Jefferson has often been a barometer for measuring American culture and politics. As early 1874 biographer James Parton wrote, "If Jefferson was wrong, then America is wrong. If America is right, Jefferson was right." In the twenty-first century Jefferson remains a proxy in the ongoing wider culture war over the American past.
In this livestreamed presentation, Dr. Frank Cogliano, Interim Director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies, will examine recent controversies over Jefferson and legacy and reflect on how they shape our understanding of Jefferson and his time—as well as our own.