On Day Two I was immersed in Williamsburg, and I continued to have a great time. In the morning, we attended a performance by some of Williamsburg’s historic character interpreters, most of whom were playing slaves in the Colonial Era. The scenarios did an excellent job bringing to life the conflicts and pressures experienced by people of color in those terrible circumstances. The actors who play these characters do an impressive job; not only do they have “play” characters, and their words, deeds, and feelings, but they have “inhabit” the characters, a kind of performance that requires considerable study of the personalities and the era, along with the nimbleness to extemporize when spoken to by visitors. A Q&A session followed the performance, and it was striking to hear the actors speak of the particular challenges posed by having to play a slave all day.
At a luncheon in the afternoon, we heard a talk by Professor Alan Brinkley of Columbia University on the question How Do Presidents Succeed-and Fail? Brinkley focused on the differences between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I guess Brinkley picked a topic suitable for Presidents’ Day weekend, but I would have preferred to have heard an address closer to the theme of the weekend. I am happy to say, however, that I met some wonderful people at lunch, including four school teachers from Salt Lake City who are crazy about Williamsburg (three of them had visited at least three times.) They love the atmosphere and they love history (I’m with them.) I also very lucky to have as a seat mate Christy Coleman, who is president of American Civil War Museum, which is located at the historic Tredegar Foundry in Richmond. I had never heard of this place (if I had, I probably would have checked it out instead of the Museum of the Confederacy), which uses historic interpreters and exhibitions to tell the story of the Civil War from Union, Confederate and African American perspectives. I really enjoyed talking to Ms. Coleman, who began her career as a historic interpreter at WIlliamsburg; I would have liked to have heard more about her exciting work.
After lunch, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Colin Campbell, the president and CEO of Colonial Williamsburg, who spoke about the organization’s efforts to bring history to life and to reveal the issues and conflicts that make studying it so exciting. “You can’t just have a guide take a group of tourists into a historic building and point out the wall paper anymore,” he 
said. “Those days are gone forever. We try to present stories here–stories that full of drama, and that are challenging, and that have the incomparable benefit of being real.” One can certainly appreciate the hard work and sheer intelligence that it takes to design programs that reach people of all ages and widely different interest levels, and that also take on topics that are sensitive, if not outright caustic. “Do I get mail?” Mr. Campbell chuckled. “Yes, but the content is not negotiable. We present what in our judgment is good history, not politically correct history.”
The evening concluded with a very entertaining musical performance by an impressively accomplished and very witty trio that calls themselves The Virginia Company. Their program, called “To Washington’s Health,” consisted of drinking songs, dances, reels, ballads and other tunes that would have been known to the Father of Our Country (who apparently was not only first in peace and war, but often first onto the dance floor.) Dinner took place at an excellent restaurant called The Blue Talon, where I was once again able to thank Samantha Lacher and Erin Curtis of the Missy Farren & Associates Public Relations Agency, who helped arrange my activities. I enjoyed meeting them, and am very grateful for all their congenial assistance.