CANCELED – Reflections on American Democracy – in a Time of Political Uncertainty

We regret to announce that Barbara Clark Smith’s lecture has been canceled due to travel restrictions for Smithsonian employees. Other museum programs are continuing as scheduled, unless otherwise indicated. The Smithsonian traveling exhibition American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith will remain on view through March 29. Check our website for the latest updates.

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Smithsonian curator Barbara Clark Smith on American democracy past and present

Our nation rests on the consent of the people. But who are the people? How should those people participate to make their voices heard? The exhibition American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith explores these questions, which have faced every generation of Americans since the nation’s founding. In this talk,  Barbara Clark Smith recounts the thinking that shaped the exhibition and explores the unforeseen challenges posed by the earthquake shaking US politics today.

Barbara Clark Smith, co-curator of American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith, is a well-known historian of Revolutionary America. In her career at the Smithsonian, she has also produced exhibitions on 18th-century everyday life; 17th-century Jamestown, Quebec, and Santa Fe, and Thomas Jefferson’s Bible. She is a Curator of Political History at the National Museum of American History.