{"id":410667,"date":"2026-01-16T10:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410667\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T10:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:16:08","slug":"uk-department-of-history-launches-celebrating-1776-series-ahead-of-americas-250th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410667\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Department of History launches \u2018Celebrating 1776\u2019 series ahead of America\u2019s 250th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 16, 2026) \u2014 As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the <a href=\"https:\/\/history.as.uky.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Kentucky Department of History<\/a> is launching a public event series designed to deepen understanding of the American Revolution and its enduring legacy.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cCelebrating 1776\u201d series will feature lectures, conversations, film screenings and new courses for students through 2026, drawing on the department\u2019s nationally recognized scholars in American history and serving as a resource for the UK campus and the broader Kentucky community.<\/p>\n<p>The series kicks off 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, with a public conversation featuring Joseph Ellis, one of the nation\u2019s preeminent historians of the Revolutionary War era. The event will take place in the Worsham Cinema in the Gatton Student Center and is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow.<\/p>\n<p>Ellis is the author of 12 books and a Pulitzer Prize winner for \u201cFounding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation.\u201d He also received the National Book Award for \u201cAmerican Sphinx,\u201d his biography of Thomas Jefferson. His most recent book, \u201cThe Great Contradiction,\u201d examines how the principles of freedom and liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence coexisted with slavery and the nation\u2019s westward expansion.<\/p>\n<p>The Jan. 28 event will be moderated by Amy Murrell Taylor, Ph.D., the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at UK, whose scholarship focuses on the Civil War era and the lived experiences of ordinary Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur hope is that this series will provide the UK community with a better understanding of this critical period in American history,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt remains so alive and so much a part of our national conversation today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cCelebrating 1776\u201d series will continue with additional public events, to be announced as details become available. Through the series, the department aims to foster informed dialogue and historical context as the nation reflects on its founding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this current moment of deep political divisiveness, the 250th gives us an opportunity to return to our shared American past,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt invites conversations about the meaning of the principles bequeathed to us in 1776 \u2014 liberty, equality and governance by the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More information about the \u201cCelebrating 1776\u201d series and upcoming events is available at <a href=\"https:\/\/history.as.uky.edu\/event-type\/celebrating-1776-series\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/history.as.uky.edu\/event-type\/celebrating-1776-series<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 16, 2026) \u2014 As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the founding of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-410667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}