Revisiting the Revolution: How UNCW Researchers See America's Founding

As the nation approaches its 250th birthday, the American Revolution remains central to how the United States understands itself. For two and a half centuries, Americans have returned to the Revolution to define the country's ideals, debate its contradictions and remember its prominent figures. As faculty at UNC Wilmington point out, the story of the Revolution is not set in stone, but rather, it's still unfolding.

Through research that examines the Revolution's impact on ordinary people, the ways generations of Americans have remembered it and the ideas that shaped the nation's founding, UNCW faculty are deepening understanding of both the country's origins and its enduring legacy.

Three researchers approach the Revolution from distinctly different angles. Together, their work demonstrates the complexity of the topic and why it remains a continually relevant and widely revisited part of American history.

This series explores each perspective:

• Kim Sherman examines the Revolution through the experiences of North Carolina communities, including loyalists, families and women who lived through the conflict. Read more
• Jamie L. Brummitt explores how religion, mourning and memory shaped the ways Americans remembered the Revolution for generations.
• David Houpt looks at the ideas behind the Revolution, the myths that surrounded it and why its meaning continues to evolve.

Check back throughout the week as stories in this series are published.