The USA’s 250th Anniversary

Please join UCHRI and the UC Humanities Network for a conversation on our new annual theme, “States of Exception, States of Emergence,” between Professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (Princeton University) and UCHRI Director Jaimey Fisher.

Professor Glaude recently published America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries (2026), looking back from the 250th anniversary of the United States at how the US has struggled to acknowledge its complex history. For Professor Glaude, many milestone national anniversaries have re-affirmed myths as much as retrospectively reflected them. Those abiding myths and much-needed reflections occasion a critical evaluation of how collective memory has operated in broader US culture for centuries, particularly around concepts like innocence and freedom. This incisive intervention, at a key moment in the US’s history, is part of a broader examination by Professor Glaude at how our nation has long been a contested notion, struggling to acknowledge a past riven with violent inequality and to imagine a more just future.

Zoom Registration

Conversation will include a Q&A. You are welcome to submit questions via the form above or chat during the event.