History on wheels

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, June 9th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

AUDIO: It all began to happen, 200 years ago...Oh…America! 

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: commemorating America's monumental anniversary.

AUDIO: America! Take a look at your country. Don’t let the train go by!

In 1975, a restored steam locomotive chugged across the country carrying more than 500 artifacts to honor America’s bicentennial.

This year, six 18-wheelers-turned-museums are crisscrossing the country in honor of our 250th anniversary. The trucks are packed full of interactive displays that tell the story of American independence.

AUDIO: …And then served as America’s first president…

REICHARD: That’s the sound of a large AI-generated portrait of George Washington welcoming visitors to the two-room museum… calling attention to the central message:

AUDIO: Despite our differences, we agree on one fundamental truth that our rights are a gift from God, not a favor of kings or courts.

The talking portrait is set in a gilded frame. Washington says: our rights are a gift from God, not a favor of kings or courts.

GEST: This room is really all about the first battles, George Washington, so we have this display here. 

EICHER: Jaclyn Gest is one of the tour managers.

GEST: And then we’ve got some fun interactive items as well. So behind you, you can take a quiz over here, tell you whether you're a loyalist or a patriot. It’s really fun to see what people's answers are.

SOUND: [PEOPLE CHATTERING]

Tour guests go through a compact mobile museum and past a bold mural depicting Washington and his men crossing the icy Delaware River.

The six trucks are part of a nationwide campaign called Freedom 250. Conservative groups—including PragerU and Hillsdale College—worked with the White House to make it possible.

The campaign is reminiscent of the nation’s bicentennial celebration.

Fifty years ago, America’s bicentennial Freedom Train pulled 26 cars almost 26,000 miles and toured the country for more than a year and a half. Gerald Ford was president back in 1976.

AUDIO: Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. ‘Obviously I am tremendously pleased to participate in the official ceremony recognizing the American freedom train as a major bicentennial effort.’

REICHARD: The Freedom Train’s exhibitions included historical artifacts. Today, the Freedom Trucks are more like a giant, interactive history textbook with colorful blocks of text with timelines and touch screens.

GEST: You can actually sign an electronic copy of the Declaration of Independence here, take a picture of it, become one of those founding fathers as well.

The trucks are also visiting schools around the country.

GEST: It’s a different way of presenting the history. So here we had about 700 students from the local middle school and charter schools, private schools around the area, that came to visit.

Meghan Fisher visited the Freedom Truck with her eight-year old daughter.

FISHER: And why are we here today? / We’re here to celebrate the birthday. / The birthday of America, getting ready for 250 years, right, in July…

The Fishers homeschool.

FISHER: We thought that this was a really wonderful way to learn more deeply about our history. And, oh, I loved the wall of heroes—I thought it was fantastic.

EICHER: The wall of 50 American icons includes Harriet Tubman and Walt Disney, as well as lesser known figures.

Nicole Russell brought her four children.

RUSSELL: Well it's always interesting to see how long the Revolution was. It didn't just start in 1776 and end, oh you know, a couple battles later. It was a 10-year process or longer.

REICHARD: The trucks have also reignited some conversations about how we teach history.

Critics argue the truck curates an American exceptionalism that glosses over the darker aspects of the Revolutionary period, like slavery.

But a display toward the end of the museum acknowledges it took decades to fulfill the truth that “All men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights.”

LUNDBERG: Nobody's perfect, and no country is perfect.

EICHER: John Lundberg is an 85-year-old army veteran who lives nearby.

LUNDBERG: America has had problems in the past. We've got problems today.

Lundberg missed the bicentennial Freedom Train. He spent America’s 200th birthday stationed in Germany on his first Army assignment.

LUNDBERG: I’m kind of a history buff and I really enjoy this kind of stuff.

REICHARD: Another display highlighted spy activity during the Revolution and the use of coded messages.

Tour manager Gest pointed out that the truck’s limited space forced its designers to make hard decisions.

GEST: There’s a lot of stuff that happened during that time, so of course there are things that weren’t included.

Still, she appreciates what the exhibit did choose to include, and says the 250th milestone is one worth marking.

SOUND: [PEOPLE CHATTERING]

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