The Story of America: The Struggle to Expand Human Freedom

This program, presented by Shockoe Institute President and CEO, Marland Buckner, shares the story of America and the struggle to expand human freedom. Buckner will take you behind the scenes into the creation of the Shockoe Institute’s inaugural exhibit “Expanding Freedom,” which reveals the evolution of American racial slavery and its enduring impact. The exhibit boldly confronts the brutal facts of our history and examines how they connect to today’s challenges. The Shockoe Institute inspires us all to learn, reflect, and act by using the lessons of that history to improve our civic life. Join us in exploring Richmond, once the epicenter of the domestic slave trade in the Upper South, to understand our whole history and how that history has impacted life today. Buckner will share how that struggle to expand human freedom made America exceptional, and how the Shockoe Institute is focused on providing a venue for civic engagement so that our future can be brighter than our past.