On the latest episode of Repeating History, our guest is Dr. John Garrison Marks. As the nation continues commemorating its 250th birthday, we discuss the legacy of George Washington’s relationship with one of America’s original sins, chattel slavery. In addition, they discuss how museum’s across the country present and interpret this complex historical reality.

Dr. Marks most recent book, Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory, examines this rich historical tapestry. For the better part of 250 years, Americans have viewed Washington’s entanglements with slavery through the lens of their particular cultural and political moments, selectively remembering Washington’s history as one of the nation’s most prolific enslavers and the architect of one of the its largest private emancipations. The book dives deep into this history, exploring how successive generations have grappled with slavery’s place in Washington’s legacy, offering a new historical foundation for today’s debates about slavery and the nation’s founding. The book was published in April 2026 by University of North Carolina Press.