Interview with Black Lives in the Founding Era History School Teacher Jason Butler

Black Lives in the Founding Era is one of six Gilder Lehrman History School courses being offered this spring. It will be taught by Jason Butler, a professional learning specialist supporting K–12 social studies instruction in a large, Atlanta-area school district. Butler was an award-winning teacher of social studies, English literature, and Spanish for fourteen years. A James Madison fellow, National History Day honoree, and former journalist, Butler has presented at many state and national conferences. 

Each week of the course students will examine a different historical figure—some famous and some little known—and their life, legacy, and accomplishments. Each class will also feature a Hamilton cast member. To learn more about the course and register, click here. Classes begin Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at 7pm ET and continue weekly.

Jason Butler was interviewed by Gilder Lehrman staff about his course on February 19, 2021.

GLI: Black Lives in the Founding Era is a course for 3rd through 8th graders. Why this age level?

Jason Butler: I credit the masterminds of the Gilder Lehrman Institute who thought targeting a younger audience would be the way to go. If younger students get their minds opened, then that puts them in a better place as they get older. I think about my own experience as a student and being an educator for seventeen years. It’s very possible to have all kinds of misconceptions and big swaths of ignorance related to Black American experience. We want young students to learn that there were some Black Americans who weren’t enslaved, or who were in the Revolutionary War, or who were enslaved and wrote letters redressing their grievances.

It’s challenging to reach this range of ages. A student who is 8 is very different from a student who is 13. The subject is difficult. You cannot talk about Sally Hemmings’ experience in the same way for both ages in terms of being in a forced relationship and bearing children from it. I am adamant about not white-washing history, though. I think it’s a travesty that’s been perpetrated by the education system and the public forever. I want to make sure that no one has misconceptions that I have fostered or continued. “Did Sally and Thomas have a loving relationship?” That is very problematic to me. On the flip side, you have to be careful about talking to 8- or 9-year-olds about some of the details of her experience.

The way this will be received by each individual out there will be different depending on their background. It will mean something different for different sorts of students, but for everyone it will provide the opportunity to reconsider those who have often been viewed as absent from this history or simply as victims within it.

GLI: What made you choose the specific historical figures you chose for each of these lessons for these particular students?

Jason Butler: All of them have documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and that will be the anchor for the lessons. There were so many documents that I will end up covering multiple figures in some lessons. That’s just a testament to how much GLI has to offer. It would have been wonderful to include others as well, but I was trying to make sure that I got some in here who have escaped the spotlight. Typically, you’re probably going to hear more about [Black author and scientist] Benjamin Banneker than you would hear about Peter Kiteridge, a soldier, for instance because you simply don’t hear as much about Black soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War. Phillis Wheatley—people know the name, but with most of these figures people don’t know them as well.

Centering these sessions around primary source documents helps young people understand how smart and admirable these historical figures were. When you see how people without formal education were able to write like this, it’s astonishing. In no way would you envision the eloquence, and vocabulary, and references to Greek and Roman sources in these documents. Was this the experience for most Black people then? No. But it’s part of the picture and it helps us understand those who were ignored and misrepresented.

GLI: How did you become interested in writing about and teaching Black history in the Founding Era?

Jason Butler: I am passionate about Black history in total. The Founding Era is a special chapter in that history because there is so much mythology wrapped around that era. The “founding fathers” are baked into our thought process on a deep level. The faces are on our money; the names are enshrined on streets in our cities and counties. The stories and roles and the importance of Black people in that era are minimized and slandered in many cases. The idea that we could counter some of that is really exciting to me. It helps us re-calibrate who we are as a country. By spotlighting some of these people who were playing significant roles in their own ways, we  redefine who we are and where we came from. A lot of people fought for what we cherish as Americans. These contributions, small or large, heralded or unheralded, were transformative. What does it mean to be American in 2021? That can be answered by a fuller understanding of where we came from. We are not a nation founded and defined only by a certain group of people.

GLI: You have worked as a learning support specialist, a teacher of different subjects, and a journalist. How does this work experience play into your approach to planning and teaching this course?

Jason Butler: It all has brought me to this point today, broadly speaking. Concretely: I’ve been around a lot. Getting to know people from all different walks of life has played a key role in shaping my values and understanding of people who have enhanced my understanding of what things are like out there.

GLI: How will the special guests from the Hamilton musical be part of the lessons for this course?

Jason Butler: It may vary a little depending on what they want to do. Some will dive into the research and that will sway how each session will look. In general, it is powerful to have actors and actresses who have helped tell other stories [from the same era] on huge stages, doing a lot of the same things that we’re describing: they’ve lived that. It’s important to have them be part of the discussion. I think they will bring their own appreciation for bringing the Founding Era to life.

GLI: How will exploring actual Black figures from the same era as Hamilton be different for them?

Jason Butler: One thing Lin-Manuel Miranda has always talked about is, yes, there’s a lot of poetic license in imagining Thomas Jefferon as a Black man. But the idea is that all of us are involved in creating the country. In this course, where we step into exploring what people of color actually did, there is a parallel journey to the Hamilton story. That’s the idea of inclusivity and representation. I can imagine that the Hamilton cast has a unique lens on that. 

Learn more about the course and register students here.

Please email blfe@gilderlehrman.org with any questions about the course.