The White House and PragerU unveiled a new exhibit Tuesday to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding next July.
The exhibit “is more than just a collection of stories,” according to Second Lady Usha Vance, who spoke at the launch event. “It’s a tribute to courage.”
White House visitors can view the physical exhibit, titled “Road to Liberty: The Men, Women, and Moments That Forged the United States,” at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. PragerU also produced an online component to give access to a larger audience across the nation.
The exhibit is part of the Founders Museum, a joint effort from the White House, Department of Education, and PragerU to highlight key figures and events from America’s founding.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon and PragerU CEO Marissa Streit delivered remarks along with Vance to the event’s approximately 100 attendees, emphasizing the importance of patriotism, history, and education. Country singer Alexis Wilkins performed the national anthem with more than a dozen schoolchildren.
The new exhibit is “a place where every American can connect with the courage and conviction that built our nation,” McMahon said.
She explained to the audience that “education does not mean propaganda to produce blind allegiance to the government.” Instead, “Real patriotic education means that just as our founders loved and honored America, so we should honor them while learning and earnestly debating their ideas.”
Education is meant to prevent “a nation with amnesia,” Streit added.
“America doesn’t deserve to [be] a nation with amnesia because we have an interesting history,” Streit said. “We have goods and bads, but we do need to remember it.”
Vance stated that “the story of America is not just in the past. It’s being written now in our choices, our values, and our commitment to each other.”
The unveiling of the exhibit has significance that extends beyond today, Vance noted.
“Today, let us not just open an exhibit, but also new chapter of reflection, gratitude and shared purpose, and then to continue to honor the past by shaping a more just and noble country.”
