The Virginia 250th Story: Lessons for Other States
With the goal to engage, inspire, and educate Virginians in every corner of the Commonwealth, our state and local 250th commissions launched a robust combination of statewide programming and locally planned events, activities, and museum exhibitions. This was an all-hands affair, with Governor Youngkin challenging every state agency to find a unique way to commemorate Virginia’s role in the nation’s founding. Two of my favorite examples involved bourbon and bugs. Virginia’s 250th whiskey releases honor both the founding of the nation and our legacy as the birthplace of American distilling (sorry, Kentucky—you were part of the Commonwealth back then). And the bugs? The Virginia Museum of Natural History hosted a series of exhibits about Virginia’s early leadership in expanding knowledge of natural history and Jefferson’s lesser-known role as the “Father of Paleontology.”
Important milestones are natural moments to celebrate but also offer the opportunity to reflect, engage, learn, and grow. As part of the bicentennial festivities in 1976, thousands of local community initiatives and hundreds of new museums and historic preservation projects were launched. Fifty years later, we have a deeper and broader knowledge of our history that incorporates more rich stories beyond just those of our founding fathers. In the bicentennial commemoration I experienced as a nine-year-old, all the girls were forced to compete for the only spot for a girl in the Independence Day Pageant. We wore our red, white, or blue Keds, sang patriotic songs, and savored staying up late with sparklers and fireworks. But the picture we were shown of our nation’s founding was filtered through a far smaller aperture than should be available to students today. How do we help more Americans—especially our youth—listen, learn, and reflect on how our messy, inspiring, revolutionary, and odds-defying past not only changed the world but continues to impact our present and future? This was the heart of the VA250 endeavor.
To engage, inspire and educate all Virginians about the nation’s founding, we created a VA250 Education Steering Committee comprising over 70 education leaders—including the Virginia Department of Education, our colleges and universities, Chickahominy Tribe, civic organizations, and Virginia museums and historical institutions. Our shared goal over the past four years was to create a series of programs, activities, and engagement opportunities that make history come alive.
