Chapter 13: Postscript

Imagine teachers riveted by the dignified entrance of General George Washington in full uniform, by the harsh realities of a New World through the words of a weary Jamestown, Virginia, soldier, and the saga of an enslaved woman who runs to freedom. I've seen teachers crowd around character performers, historical interpreters, and storytellers hoping to do what they do, to “make history come alive”: Hoping to learn how for the sake of their students.

My colleagues and I began forming this book almost two years before our manuscript was submitted in April, 2020. By that time, the world had changed radically due to the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Education and public history stakeholders faced the specter of a world where life and livelihood – the physical and economic needs of people, organizations, and countries – took precedence. At the time of this writing, assessing a global pandemic's full impact on education and public history has to wait until the crisis has passed.