What Colonial Williamsburg may teach us about politics today

[@Andrew-i2p]

Even in his winter years, Ted Koppel still delves complexity, courts curiosity and leaves us with a heavy beat at story’s end.

[@danlatus7413]

Beautifully said Andrew

[@steveconn]

Those colonial Williamsburg guides are real trooper actors, so much to memorize and improvise from modern questions. Great work!

[@yvonneplant9434]

Instead of going to this made up village, it makes more sense to go to where colonial events actually happened in Boston or Philadelphia.

[@blackmoom]

Totally agree!! Watched the show just now and was amazed at how good those performances are. 👍

[@lewisbale1]

They are

[@Brap-pl2me]

They are certainly expert propagandists.

[@leighculbertson]

This story brought me to tears of gratefulness for this nation’s storytellers, history keepers, reporters and eloquent speakers. Thank you thank you thank you. ❤

[@user-ug3qq4py3i]

"Until our time". That statement really resonates and for good reason. PAY ATTENTION.😮

[@JimPhillips-l3v]

Great episode! What a talented group of historians and actors. I must go see this in person

[@j.j.9123]

@JimPhillips-13v, Virginian here. Yes, you’ll have a fabulous time. Jamestown Island and Jamestown Settlement are very close by and well worth a visit.

[@JimPhillips-l3v]

@ Thank you!

[@roxannefebuary6823]

I'm fortunate I live 30 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg. It's a treasured part of our area.😊

[@midnite22767]

“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within” - Will Durant

[@BrianHornak]

Thank you Ted..what a PLEASURE to hear your voice..Hope All is Well

[@DigitalMangoShake]

The closing part if the video is very powerful.

[@Marvinmartion]

I’m of the firm belief that as a whole ,our nation is in deep need of massive amounts of humility and humbleness! As well as empathy and understanding! Enough of hey look at me! I’m great and all the bragging! Enough already!

[@kathygossatanasov750]

Colonial Williamsburg is fantastic. Very talented actors, musicians, craftspeople. I am still in awe of it since my first visit 2o years ago. And there is a spa!

[@4paullou6]

We highly recommend anyone that hasn't visited CW, do so. You will be amazed and connected to our Nation's history like never before. We've been there many times and were just there the first week of October. Mr. Koppel and his Crew did a fantastic job of putting together this story.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Visited there in 2007 on a family cross-country road trip. Definitely worth it! So too is a stop at nearby Jamestown and Yorktown.

[@pdoylemi]

My dad was a Naval Officer and history buff. During the time we were stationed in the Norfolk area, family outings for us were not to the beach and such usually, it was Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and once, Gettysburg. I enjoyed these trips as a kid, but not until much later did I realize just how lucky I was.

[@cynthiamason4069]

Thank you for bringing this story to air on this very emotion filled Sunday before our Tuesday of destiny. Visiting this place was something my late husbane and I had planned to do. I offer so much respect, admiration and affection for these Americans that are dedicated to show us our past so we can continue to value our present and our future. Well done✌️

[@rachaelgoldman5846]

Having a chance to talk with re-enactors is always a joy! Martha Washington's jewelry is spot on.

[@ceciliawilson6328]

This is a trip I feel we should all take. Top of my list.

[@robertpaulson6388]

Had a buddy from college that worked at Colonial Williamsburg as a blacksmith back when. Pete Baily - if you're out there howdy bud!!

[@RocksOff72]

Been wanting to go here for years, this looks great.

[@BoundyMan]

I have been there several times. Just to let you know, you first have to go to a visitors center to get your picture taken in order to wear a picture ID on your shirt in order to enter the building, if they are open on the day you are there.

[@mililaniman]

Williamsburg seems like an inviting place to visit and learn about history. I would love to visit the college of William and Mary too.

[@Dan-ys8nk]

I had the privilege of visiting Colonial Williamsburg when I graduated from William & Mary last year. Every American should visit this place and learn from history.

[@timprescott4634]

I would whole heartedly concur were it not for the fact they are “teaching” a grossly revised history to try to fit the complexities of our time.

[@iuew]

I'm always glad to see a Ted Koppel piece. Well done.

[@AtomicFreedom]

I absolutely love Williamsburg

[@pdoylemi]

When I was a kid, my parents took us there often and I have been back a few times as an adult. One thing I fondly recall was Brunswick Stew at The Raleigh Tavern.

[@garybowler5946]

I really like this Martha.

[@debrarogers7776]

Love this place

[@breth8159]

What a wonderful segment . I have not been to Williamsburg at hope I can make it sometime the thing you can't have in this museum now is the incredible depth of faith that was presented in the writings of the contemporaries of that time this nation and its birth was a gift providential and there is no doubt

[@lewisbale1]

We visited Williamsburg several times while we lived there to see how people lived back then and study history.

[@chrisfinch8637]

Ted Koppel certainly is taking us on a very unique time capsule on how they approached politics, back in the 18th century.

[@tonacornelius9326]

if this is the same Jefferson actor from 2012-14 - his talk on how long it takes to get from Montecello to Williamsburg (a day and a half) was best personified by his entry into his Corvette "carriage" outside the theatre (my sons and I saw him get in and zoom off !) Seriously! Nice ride TJ. : ) . Colonial Williamsburg ROCKS!

[@anastasiabeaverhausen8220]

These actors are wonderful. I visited there many yrs. ago with my mom when I was a teen, but I didn't see these presentations, just people at work at trades of the period. And flocks of sheep and goats in the town square.

[@RichardQuaid]

#30,000 lies in one term, google it. Then, if you're voting for Donnie, ask yourself why you, I, or anyone else should put up with such a dishonest liar.

[@breth8159]

Who will watch the watchers ? who will check the fact checkers ? Now that it is decided I hope you're doing well and wish all of my fellow Americans to thrive

[@revemb4653]

There are no good options nor truth full politicians

[@dominicdahlheimer6861]

Martha Washington is beautiful in so many ways!

[@danlatus7413]

😂

[@barbcole4726]

I'd love to go back to Williamsburg again. After all that has happened I think I"d experience some things differently.

[@dabeage]

Only thinking people, inquisitive people, educated people and learn from history. The ignorant have short memories.

[@PhilosopherWR]

4:37 Thank you James Lafayette. 5:53 Thank you Stephen Seals.

[@jiyounglee6150]

thank you😊

[@maxlinder5262]

This country put in Power a Man of NO means Mentally ...Who didn't know the American People..... just my opinion

[@sarahnichols4439]

I remember visiting Colonial Williamsburg several times and I hope to do so again sometime. A bit of a sidebar, having heard the musical Hamilton, I did wonder if Eliza Hamilton and Abigail Adams at least respected one another even though their husbands loathed one another. Why? The women were largely alone for long periods of time and had to be in the public spotlight that was more often than not, without mercy.

[@Marvinmartion]

I’m of the firm belief that as a whole our nation is deep need of massive amounts of humility and humbleness! As well as empathy and understanding! Enough of hey look at me! I’m great and all the bragging! Enough already! The best presidents are the reluctant ones!

[@Clintsessentials]

This!!!

[@pdoylemi]

I wish that were possible.

[@romstar]

Some people live in a parallel universe 😮 when it comes to this country and how it was built 😢🙏🏼 make of that what you will 😊

[@ThePapawhisky]

We clearly don’t learn from the past.

[@TylerRakstis]

Well, it does go to show you that controversial topics like this aren't anything new, even been around since the beginning of this country's history for the colonizers. Even if that history is riddled with its own can-of-worms moments that in retrospect don't age too well.

[@thisguy73]

I liked how Martha Washington and Thomas Jefferson talked. They did find one relatively "happy" black story but if they wanted to make it more realistic they should have shown the darker side of things. Granted that would be difficult on the actors and viewers but its a bit too happy go lucky on the slavery side of things.

[@daphnefreeat50]

I wouldn’t call James’ story happy- a lot of suffering before he had his “happy ending” and Mr Seals is outstanding at telling the story. I hope you can visit to experience his research and interpretation as well as the others portraying those who were enslaved, Free Blacks and members (all descendants) of the American Indian Initiative

[@soccerchamp0511]

Yes, the work Colonial Williamsburg does is so important. I wish every American had the opportunity to visit there. They do a good job of being provocative in a way that isn't offensive to a certain, especially older, segment of the population, which I think gives them the ability to challenge people's preconceived notions and biases constructively. One thing I would warn about, however, is in the past few years they have put more emphasis on hiring people with acting rather than history backgrounds. As a historian who loves studying the 18th century Atlantic World Colonial Williamsburg would be a dream job, but I'm not qualified for most of the ones I've seen listed because I don't have any acting experience. Seems like a misplaced emphasis on acting possibly at the expense of historical accuracy.

[@giriensalazar3966]

"Until our time," is code for for "I'm too lazy to explain to what I mean." It's also code for, "I missed the part in American history when the southern states attempted to secede from the Union after Abraham Lincoln became president and we engaged in a bloody Civil War."

[@hinthegroove9740]

Americans are so smart, yet into politics? and with passion? It’s contradictory.

[@chenellc6187]

A lesson to learn from Colonial Williamsburg is that upholding whiteness will crumble the experiment of capitalism. I always found the historical aspect of the site lacking. Add a Sallie Hemmings interpreter or her brother the chef, and teach people something about white culture and black humanity.

[@daphnefreeat50]

Not sure if you watched this video but there are several interpreters, including Stephen Seals, doing a fantastic job bringing all aspects of history to light. And the increased staffing at the American Indian Initiative has been vital to adding to the full view of our shared history.

[@DreamCather147]

At least you knew where these folks stood.

[@manga12]

the truth of history is often not plesent for people to face, its often inconvenient, full of parts forgotten, and those that had to live it full of hard work that people today are not used to facing or having to work as hard to do, you imagine having to make all your stuff yourself to walk to where you wanted to get to, having to hunt for your food and rely on what you grew or starve or run out and have to starve or face malnutrition, and spoilage, or the lower rate of literacy back then, and punishment for crimes or not doing as told, it was a lot more physical and harsh back then, and if injured in the course of trying to make a living you were on your own or at the mercy of what churches and cherities that existed, still whats more it was said politic were about serving others, and duty not for making ones self cushy, you do your service then step aside, the bible also was even by Jefferson highly reguarded for its moral lessons and required reading for early public education, though his bible himself he removed the referance to God from but held it in high reguard. people also mistake those that came before as stupider, when they were just ignorant or had not a way to know or control a process for making something, case and point even 100 years ago blacksmiths and metal workers knew about metalergy and chemistry of steel they just could not control the alloying as well, but they knew about it and testing the materials, just google up railroad master blacksmith convention papers or old trade magazines on google read if you dont belive me, they were ignorant not stupid, and in someways people of the age had to have better memory and use their brain to apply the knowlege better memorizing entire works like the bible the summa theologica, entire writings of the greek and roman philosophers, and knowing multiple languages even if by rote and speak them.

[@jzotto7971]

Yet, Roosevelt ran 4 times thinking he was more important than Washington. Roosevelt a Democrat also wanted to increase the Supreme Court.

[@jameswarren3421]

The number of Justices on the Supreme Court has changed six times, ranging from five to ten. Currently, there are nine on the Court.

[@AgnesGooch-q1t]

It was the times. The Great Depression and then WWII made his decision to run. As for the Supreme Court, he did so because of the Great Depression and the Court's blocking programs that were needed to get the country moving. It was WWII that ended the Great Depression.

[@cbbcbb6803]

Why do Democrats and Republicans not repeat Washington's complaint about the king of England for preventing emigrating to America.

[@rosariodeleon541]

It lasted until Donald Trump. Be specific.

[@MP-lq3xx]

shame on 2020 denial!

[@LordValcour]

Oh yes, Martha Washington: the great abortion advocate! 😂Give me a break, they stay in character talking about immigration yet she has a whole pseudo-historical script about Martha and George Washington supporting abortion rights? The derangement is real.

[@ericmarin6454]

Immigration was better then for sure 🤔

[@Catnyp2828]

Bet it looks just about the same, except less freadoms.

[@justinparks7707]

These people had slaves tho

[@Catnyp2828]

And then, saw the error of their ways.

[@cwarchaeology5417]

Can you expand on that?

[@nghtwtchmn129]

Slaves that were imported by Yankees. Look up James DeWolf.

[@DavidMiller-kf1ss]

🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@wmryan9646]

It’s a beautiful place to visit.. but will black people ever find real peace.. knowing they were slaves at one time in America.

[@Jack-ot1zq]

Every race has been enslaved somewhere

[@757CitiesReppa]

@@Jack-ot1zq wtf that got to do Williamsburg and chattel slavery particular to this country against so called “Black” people?

[@AurelioCortez]

George Washington would be pro-abortion?!?! you guys are nuts!!

[@pdoylemi]

How do you know? George was a Protestant. Until it became politically useful to oppose abortion in the 1970's most Protestants held the Biblically accurate view that a fetus was not a person until it drew its first breath. That's why when Roe was first decided, the Southern Baptist Convention released a statement in support of the decision. How do you feel about the fact that the Bible is pro-abortion? Not pro-choice for the woman of course - the husband could bring in his wife and accuse her of being unfaithful -then they would do it.

[@Brap-pl2me]

It’s disgusting.

[@RavenBlaze]

A comment for the algorithm

[@stoltzman2960]

someone please explain to me how Kamala Harris is a legal candidate for office having never won a primary ? Inquiring minds want to know

[@jjj1951]

Or maybe bigoted minds want to know

[@stoltzman2960]

@@jjj1951 nice-- immediately attack me now answer the question! with your recent display of pure ignorance and name calling, my guess is that you cannot

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

If Biden were re-elected, with Kamala as VP, and very soon after taking office something happened that forced Biden to resign (health or otherwise), Kamala as VP would then become president. People wouldn’t have voted for her (they would have voted for Biden). Would that still be the same issue as what’s happened now? Kamala may not have been as popular in 2020, but she is very popular now. Plus if Republicans were really this upset, they could have had the ability to replace Trump with a younger candidate too, be it JD or someone else.

[@stoltzman2960]

@ChrisJones-gx7fc not the same You are describing a legal process of succession in case the president becomes incapacitated What happened with her put at top of ticket is not that at all As a matter of fact, it circumvents democratic processes Not to mention she inherited a war chest of campaign contributions Smells fishy 🐟 to me

[@Jack-ot1zq]

But she’s not a felon

[@roberthouston3809]

a woke Martha Washington! Hilarious!

[@glendakillough6726]

I used to watch this show religiously. Every Sunday. Not anymore. You are campaigning for Kamala Harris. Stop. It is shameful. You are going to destroy our country. You are rich and don't live in the real world. You are deluded, over paid, over hyped. I am over your show. Shameful.

[@blackmoom]

Did you see the segment about Venezuela? That's a pretty scary thing, and it's not too far-fetched to think that something very close to that could happen here if the 78-year-old convicted felon gets elected. Have a great day!

[@skinscountry]

If you think Trump or Elon Musk or any other billionaire lives in the same world as you or as you call it “the real world” you are delusional.

[@jjj1951]

Nonsense

[@blackmoom]

@@glendakillough6726 Ridiculous.

[@JoseMorales-lw5nt]

Incredible..... A show that bothers you so much, you decide to acknowledge it rather than ignore it. Guess a part of you must like it!😂

[@tiboregoldberger6817]

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