Dr. Richard Bell on “The American Revolution and the Fate of the World”
Non-Members $15 | Members $10
Pursuits of Knowledge
Storytelling and American Democracy
- Complimentary parking
Join leaders from Monticello, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Obama Foundation, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum for a conversation on the power of storytelling in shaping American democracy.
- Non-Member $20
- Member $15
A Conversation with the Leaders of Four Presidential Sites
Join leaders from Monticello, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Obama Foundation, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum for a conversation on the power of storytelling in shaping American democracy. What does it mean to be a presidential site, and how does each president’s life and legacy shape the answer? From stewarding the legacy of a president two centuries gone to building alongside a living president, with hard-won lessons from creating the two newest presidential sites, the conversation makes the case for why these places matter today.
This evening program bridges two gatherings at Monticello, both focused on how historic sites and public institutions can build citizens’ capacities for self-government. It follows a national summit of Educating for American Democracy’s Community Learning Partners network and precedes Tombstone Legacies, a public history conference examining the ideals Jefferson chose to be remembered for: self-government, freedom of conscience, and freedom of mind.
About the Speakers
Dr. Jane Kamensky
Dr. Jane Kamensky is President and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Trumbull Professor of American History emerita at Harvard University. She is a celebrated author of many books, including the prize-winning A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley (2016) and Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution (2024), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. She brings to her work a strong sense of civic purpose and a commitment to the ways that rigorous scholarship and compelling, honest storytelling help to build citizen capacity and revitalize the American experiment.
A former Commissioner of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and past Trustee of the Museum of the American Revolution, Kamensky is a member of the Executive Committee of Educating for American Democracy, among many other public history roles. From 2018 through 2025, she served as a scholarly advisor and on-camera expert for the Florentine Films/ Ken Burns documentary, The American Revolution.
Edward F. O’Keefe
Edward F. O’Keefe is President & CEO, WNET Group and founding CEO, TRPL. Ed is a native of North Dakota, who came to the role after a 20-year career in media. After 12 years with ABC News, he served as the founding editor-in-chief of media startup Now This. In 2014, O’Keefe joined CNN as the VP of CNN Money and CNN Politics, rising to Senior VP of Content Development. While at CNN, Ed won an Emmy Award for his work with Anthony Bourdain. In 2019, Ed was the Entrepreneur Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center, publishing his findings in his piece Streaming War Won. While at Harvard, O’Keefe also recovered never-before-published material that — alongside extensive research at the Library of Congress, the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University, the Theodore Roosevelt birthplace in New York City, and Sagamore Hill — will be the subject of a book, The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt, to be published by Simon & Schuster. He lives in New York City with his wife, Allison, daughter, Elsa, and son, Alton.
Tina Tchen
Tina Tchen is the Executive Vice President of Programs for the Obama Foundation. She oversees the Foundation's programming in Chicago and around the world to strengthen and build an active democratic culture. This includes the Foundation's Global Leadership programs, the Girls Opportunity Alliance, the My Brother's Keeper Alliance, the programs that will take place at the Obama Presidential Center, and the Foundation's annual Democracy Forum.
Ms. Tchen is an attorney, activist, and lifelong advocate for women and girls. She served in the Obama White House through both terms, and was an Assistant to President Barack Obama, Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls.
Prior to the White House, Tchen practiced law for 23 years at Skadden. At the firm, she was a corporate litigation partner, chaired the pro bono committee, and was a long time leader of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation.
Janet Tran
Janet Tran serves as the Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Prior to this role, she was the director of the Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity (CCEO) for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. She helped design the Foundation’s non-partisan civic learning portfolio to answer President Reagan’s call for an “informed patriotism.” In 2015, she established the Reagan Institute offices in Washington, D.C., with the launch of Leadership and the American Presidency (LTAP), an experiential leadership program for university students. She is the co-founder of the inaugural Reagan Institute Summit on Education (RISE), an annual bipartisan education policy that examines the health of our education system.
Janet serves on the board of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) as a senior advisor to the Campus Election Engagement Project, and the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) advisory board. Janet’s civic mission began while serving as a social studies and English teacher in Los Angeles. Janet earned her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her master’s of education in curriculum and instruction at California State University, Northridge. Most recently, she earned her doctorate in education learning technologies from Pepperdine University.
About the Educating for American Democracy Community Learning Partners (EAD-CLP) Network
Educating for American Democracy is an unprecedented effort that convened a diverse and cross-ideological group of scholars and educators to create a Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy— guidance and an inquiry framework that can be used to transform teaching of history and civics to meet the needs of a diverse 21st century K–12 student body. Launched in 2021, EAD is a call to action to invest in strengthening history and civic learning, and to ensure that civic learning opportunities are delivered equitably throughout the country.
The Education for American Democracy Community Learning Partners (EAD-CLP) Network is a collaborative initiative composed of more than 300 informal educators in museums, libraries, and historic sites across the country that aims to strengthen civic learning and education in the United States. The network focuses on integrating civic practices, skills, and content into museum interpretations and encourages participation in summits and surveys to gather insights and plan future events. With the EAD roadmap (described below) as a guide, the EAD-CLP Network represents field-wide commitment to educating for American democracy and the importance of civic education in fostering informed and engaged citizens.
Related Event
The Tombstone Legacies Conference, presented by the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, will explore Jefferson’s lasting contributions to secure the freedoms of self-government, religion, and education enshrined on Jefferson's grave marker.
