For 33 years, National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep has made it a tradition to read the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July. But this year, he broke that tradition, replacing it with a segment examining what Thomas Jefferson’s famous phrase “all men are created equal” actually means in relation to today’s sharply divided United States.
Inskeep interviewed Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed, who wrote a book in 1997 about Thomas Jefferson’s affair with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, and the children born from that relationship. He also spoke with Harvard historian Jill Lepore, who said that Jefferson took the idea from Enlightenment thinkers.
NPR Breaks 4th of July Tradition of Reading Declaration of Independence to Examine Its History
“Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep discussed the phrase “All men are created equal” with two Harvard scholars
