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Middle and high school students from across North Carolina gathered in Raleigh on Thursday for a preview and panel discussion of filmmaker Ken Burns’ latest film, “The American Revolution.”
The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) hosted more than a hundred students from eight different middle and high schools throughout the state at their headquarters in Raleigh last week.
In addition to interacting with American Revolution reenactors and state archival exhibits, students interviewed Burns on a panel before and after seeing the first few minutes of the upcoming film. The film is set to release ahead of the 250th anniversary of when the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.
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The six-part, 12 hour-long docuseries premieres on Nov. 16 on PBS. The perspectives of thirteen different individuals during the American Revolution are told through the voices of world-renowned actors throughout the film.
“The Revolution began a movement for people around the world to imagine new and better futures for themselves, their nations, and for humanity,” the PBS description of the film says. “It declared American independence with promises that we continue to strive for. The American Revolution opened the door to advance civil liberties and human rights, and it asked questions that we are still trying to answer today.”
During last week’s panel, Burns was asked about what inspired him to create the film. He talked about the different perspectives people can have on history.
“What we’re thinking about is, if we had a good story, if it’s not well known, the details of it, we tend to think of it as kind of bloodless and gallant and kind of encrusted with a lot of sentimental things, and it was time to sort of see the revolution for what it was,” Burns said.
David Schmidt, producer and co-director of the film, said that it was a challenge to strike a balance between storytelling while still maintaining the film’s historical accuracy.
“There are all sorts of myths that have developed over the last 250 years. Some of them are embellishments of truth. Some of them are full-scale falsehood. Some of them are just emphasizing something that needs context,” Schmidt said. “What mattered was the experiences of the people who lived through this war and gave us something incredible that we still treasure.”
Burns said that navigating the conflicts of America’s history to put into a documentary goes beyond how one would study for a test or write a paper about them.
“Filmmaking is all of that on a multi-dimensional level, and there’s got to be a trust to the process that what you’re going to look at in the very beginning isn’t going to be a finished film,” Burns said.
After the event, students from Martin County said they thought the event was “really cool,” and they liked how Burns explained his personal background along with the documentary.
The program was the first of many events the DNCR plans to host to honor the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding in July 2026. More information about how the state is commemorating the occasion can be found here.
“As the 250th anniversary of America approaches, it’s important for students to understand who we are as a country,” said DNCR Secretary Pamela Brewington Cashwell. “They should learn from our triumphs and mistakes, and how to carry the principles of our founders into the future.”
