When Are We US?

“When Are We US?” is a key question guiding our commemoration of the US 250th anniversary. It will be an exploration of the concepts of freedom, civic responsibility, overcoming challenge, and change as we lean into the ideals of democracy. The Historic Sites “When Are We US?” committee has created our own sub-themes to help guide individual sites in thinking of programming that allows us to expand our reach beyond traditional "18th century" sites. Our committee is interested in exploring voting—and how marginalized groups advocated for themselves in the years before obtaining the vote. We want to share perspectives of people who have become American by choice— and those who became American not by choice. And we hope to explore the struggle for human rights in the years since 1776. In short, "When Are We US?" is the question that helps us consider the roots of American democracy before 1776, and how the reverberations of American Independence continue to shape us today.