Ken Burns "American Revolution" discussing Washington's slave owning

[dflprincess]

I can hear the right wing heads now - if any of them can find PBS on their TVs.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. This is so well done

Last edited Tue Nov 18, 2025, 03:35 PM - Edit history (1)

[BannonsLiver]

2. I'm glad he's portraying the founders as the miscreants that they were.

Our education system basically deifies them, which is ridiculous.

[Rafi]

18. Miscreants? How about fallible humans who were a product of the times they were living in?

Like most humans many didn't live up to the ideals they professed, but had they not professed them I doubt we'd be better off.

[BannonsLiver]

19. You read it right - fucking miscreants.

[ITAL]

22. I don't think Burns would agree per se

I mean, he usually tries to show people as complicated and flawed, but I saw him interviewed when he said the main hero of the series is Washington and he made no apologies for that.

[BannonsLiver]

25. That's great.

I’m not sure I’d count a man who had his runaway slaves hunted down like dogs as a hero, but to each their own.

[Aristus]

20. I'm not sure I buy the "they were products of their time" argument when it comes to slavery.

Abolitionists and the concept of abolition existed at that time, too. And abolitionists were also a product of their time. So it comes down less to the idea of a less-enlightened age, and more down to a bunch of rich assholes who wouldn't get up off their lazy white asses and do their own dang work, and took advantage of a horrible existing institution to keep themselves rich.

[leftstreet]

23. +1

[misanthrope]

32. Some of them reviled slavery

John Adams was one. So it was possible.

[31st Street Bridge]

34. John Adams never owned a slave

He did his own work on the land.
He's the one who should have a huge memorial in DC!

[Tree Lady]

3. We are watching it now

Talking about how George Washington was another rich guy who wanted his slaves, yet talked about uniting the country, white people of course. Only let blacks rejoin his army after the British offered them freedom to fight against the rebels.

[WarGamer]

4. I'd hope that Burns respected Temporal historical relativism...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. There are certain truths that transcend time.

[dflprincess]

8. He's presenting facts that have been ignored for a long time nt

[Tree Lady]

9. Like my husband says

He states the facts without opinion and lets it sit there.

[Historic NY]

26. In my role as a historian

I tell people I give them the good, the bad and the ugly. Humans are fallible and history isn't a sugar-coated cookie.

[Paladin]

24. Slave ownership by the Founding Fathers isn't exactly a secret.

Particularly Washington and Jefferson. If I didn't learn about it in high school more than 50 years ago, I damn sure learned about it in college, a year or two later. Certainly there are way too many people still ignoring such historical facts---but then, way too many people now think trump is a better President than Biden. Such people are what we call "Assholes."

[CanonRay]

5. My thought was the right wingers are gonna hate this.

[31st Street Bridge]

35. That means it's good

Anything they hate is well done!

[Jack Valentino]

6. Hey, anyone know, what time do they repeat tonight? (early AM)

I noticed it seemed they did late last night, but I don't know when that started....

[Tree Lady]

10. I thought it was tv only

But pbs app has the whole series for free for a month so we were able to watch episode 2 early tonight. I was falling asleep watching it live last night.

[moondust]

11. My TV guide says

3 a.m. ET.

[Jack Valentino]

13. Thanks, but seems it is already repeating on-air- here at 1:52 EST.....

Actually they are pretty big on this, and my TV was running on PBS all night last night---
and seemed like I kept hearing it last night, all through the night...
every time I woke up for a minute



(I tried to google the PBS schedule, including the local PBS station,
but AI completely failed me.... whatever, it is playing again at this moment)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Times for documentary

On Twin Cities Public Television (TPT), the episodes have been shown at 7:00pm and then repeated at 9:00pm.

[Tom_Foolery]

17. Streaming Episodes Available Now

Episodes are available to stream for free on the PBS.org website and the PBS app, though a Passport membership will be required starting December 8, 2025.

https://www.pbs.org/show/the-american-revolution/?utm_source=official-site&utm_content=waeb&utm_campaign=americanrevolution_2025

[moondust]

12. The slavery mentions

are quite interesting. In the first episode Sunday night I believe it was a black woman historian who commented that the slave owners knew it was wrong but they didn't stop. I've always had some reservations about the Founding Fathers because so many were slavers.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. I recall hearing about Patrick Henry

Mr. "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" himself, knew that slavery was wrong, but he thought that life would be too hard if he didn't have all those people working for him.

[Stacey Grove]

16. Any man can make himself a king

when he purchases other human beings and owns them like livestock.

[Happy Hoosier]

21. I haven't watched this series yet (I'll binge it later), but...

one thing that is great about Burns, and is why his approach to presenting history is among my favorites. He can both present the weaknesses and fallibility of historical figures, AND express admiration and highlight their better qualities. Acknowledging the failures of our history does not mean we can't embrace the aspirations our founders had, even as they fell far short of them.

[GreatGazoo]

27. Slavery never stopped

The 13th Amendment says "except". I could name 10 products and services that Americans buy right now without ever thinking about people who are enslaved in 2025.

[Historic NY]

28. Washigton did free his slaves by his Will

His valet William Lee was freed immediately. Others too old or infirm were to be cared for, young ones to be schooled and taught a trade. Others freed after Martha's death. He did remain mute on slavery during his lifetime but his will expressed it.

[Retrograde]

29. Washington was a complicated character

As an ambitious but younger son, he wasn't expected to inherit much from his father, so he learned a trade - surveying and leveraged that into buy land in western Virginia. He eventually inherited Mount Vernon from an older brother, but unlike a lot of Virginia planters he didn't stick to growing tobacco: he planted cereal crops and kept the estate solvent. When he lived in New York City as president he visited a synagogue at least once. As you point out, he didn't free his slaves during his lifetime, but he made arrangements for them to be freed after his death, and cared for in the meantime. The more I read about both of them the more I prefer Washington to Jefferson.

William Lee is a fascinating person: he was with Washington throughout the Revolution and his presidency. One of the great never-written books I want is Lee's memoirs of his time with Washington.

[Historic NY]

31. He found it hard not to grant him requests.

[After the war, Lee asked his owner to bring Thomas to Mount Vernon. Although Washington grumbled that he “never wished to see her more,” he acquiesced, noting that he could not refuse his valet’s request “(if it can be complied with on reasonable terms) as he has lived with me so long and followed my fortunes with fidelity.”

link:https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/william-billy-lee|]

Lee is mention many times in Washington's papers.

[misanthrope]

33. The more I learned about Virginian Founding Fathers

The more I liked the New Englanders.

[comradebillyboy]

30. Oh my, I am shocked to learn that the founding

fathers weren't perfect 21st century enlightened leftists. They all had to make huge compromises to make the United States a reality.