Upper Cumberland communities are preparing to join a nationwide celebration of America’s 250th birthday, but the part will not end Saturday night.
Public readings of the Declaration of Independence will take place across the region Wednesday. UCDD Public Historian Mark Dudney said the regional initiative was inspired by th National Park Service as a way to unify the nation.
“The Declaration is our American creed, it’s our common language that belongs to every citizen and we’re bound together by this American covenant,” Dudney said. “We’re not under a common race, religion, or ethnicity, but by this shared commitment to these founding ideas in the Declaration.”
Dudney said the chosen date marks the anniversary of the first public reading of the document by Colonel John Nixon in Philadelphia in 1776.
Dudney said the readings are expected to take place on town squares throughout the region, with most scheduled for either 5 or 6pm to accommodate local schedules. Dudney said the document typically takes between seven and ten minutes to read aloud.
“I hope that they remember it and I hope that this sort of sparks a conversation with young people and people of every age about our common civic civics, our civic literacy, and for people to actually deep read the Declaration and the Constitution,” Dudney said. “These are first principles of the United States and I’m so hope that kids learn it and those of us that are older go back and relearn and learn something new, because there is so much to know.”
Dudney said UCDD is asking residents to record brief horizontal video clips of the readings and the crowds in attendance. Dudney said the district plans to collect these clips to edit together a regional video time capsule of the event.
“Democracy is not a spectator sport and I think that you could go through all, a lot of the founding fathers is that they believed that citizens had to be informed,” Dudney said. “I believe that they all understood that citizens had to be informed and participate in the democracy, in the great republic, for it to succeed.”
Dudney said local celebrations will vary by county, with Gainesboro planning an old-fashioned pie supper and appearances by figures dressed as Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross. Dudney said while some participants will wear period costumes, the primary focus remains on the shared experience of the text.
“This is the semi-quincentennial, this is a big deal and we need to look back, we need to honor the founders and learn from both the things we’ve done right, the things we’ve done wrong, and we definitely need to look to the future and for young people to understand what a privilege it is to live in the great republic,” Dudney said.