July 2, 2026 - Amy Murrell Taylor (UK's 'Celebrating 1776' lecture series)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 2, 2026) – As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, the University of Kentucky Department of History is helping the campus and broader community think more deeply about 1776 — not only as a moment of celebration, but as a moment for reflection.

Through its 'Celebrating 1776' lecture series, public events, film screenings and courses, the department is bringing together historians, public scholars and UK experts to explore the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and the ideas that have shaped the nation across two and a half centuries.

On this episode of 'Behind the Blue,' Amy Murrell Taylor, Ph.D., the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at UK, joins host Kody Kiser to discuss America 250, Kentucky’s place in the story of the founding era and why the principles of liberty, equality and governance by the people remain so alive in the national conversation.

“These are moments, yes, of celebration, but moments that encourage people to stop and think: what are we celebrating exactly?” Taylor said. “What is this nation? What is this Declaration of Independence that we’re celebrating?”

Taylor’s scholarship focuses on the Civil War era, slavery, emancipation and the lived experiences of ordinary Americans. The last time she joined 'Behind the Blue,' the conversation centered on her award-winning book, 'Embattled Freedom,' and the national debate over Confederate memorials. In this episode, Taylor connects that earlier conversation to America 250 through questions of public memory — how people remember the past, what they choose to honor and how history continues to shape the present.

“One through line between the conversations about Confederate memorials and the 250th is clearly how do we remember our past?” Taylor said. “How do we look back on it and learn from it and celebrate it?”

Taylor also discusses Kentucky’s relationship to the founding era. While Kentucky was not yet a state in 1776, the region was deeply shaped by the American Revolution, westward expansion, Indigenous resistance and settlement. Lexington itself was named for the Battle of Lexington in 1775, and what would become Kentucky was part of Virginia during the Revolutionary era.

“Kentucky is part of what we might consider to be the traditional revolutionary story,” Taylor said. “But it’s also part of this other side to the revolution that hasn’t gotten as much attention in our collective memory.”

The episode also previews the Department of History’s 'Celebrating 1776' series. Events include public conversations and lectures with leading historians and public scholars, including Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis; Christy Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation; a September screening of highlights from the PBS film “The American Revolution” by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt; and an October lecture by Patrick Spero, chief executive officer of the American Philosophical Society, on “André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Kentucky Conspiracy of 1793.”

The department is also incorporating the anniversary into coursework, including classes on the American Revolution and U.S. history. Taylor said students are engaging directly with founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, not simply to memorize them, but to understand their origins, their meaning and how Americans have continued to invoke them across generations.

“What I want them to get out of reading these documents is they’re not going to memorize them,” Taylor said. “But I want them to generally understand basically what’s in there, but walk away from my class with an impulse to always go back and look.”

For Taylor, America 250 offers an opportunity for the public to ask historical questions — not only about what happened in 1776, but about why those events continue to matter.

“I would love for people in this moment to ask some questions about what they’re celebrating,” Taylor said. “Even as they’re eating their hot dogs and watermelon and whatever they’re having, maybe some questions will come to their minds.”

You can find out more about the UK Department of History here.

And, you can learn more about the department’s ‘Celebrating 1776’ lecture series here.

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This interview has been edited for time and clarity.