Unfinished Revolutions

The Founders declared that “all men are created equal” and possess the unalienable rights of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yet the rights protected by the new nation initially applied only to a limited group—primarily landowning white men. Women, enslaved people, Indigenous peoples, and the poor were excluded from full participation in American democracy, and New York remained a slave state until 1827.

Over the past 250 years, New York has been a battleground for struggles over freedom, equality, and citizenship, debates that continue today.

This media feature brings together five historians, each offering a different perspective on what the Revolution meant to specific groups and how its legacy continues to shape our world.

• Darren Bonaparte, Mohawk cultural historian from Akwesasne
• Jennifer Burns, lecturer at the University at Albany
• Hugh Ryan, writer & lead historian at the American LGBTQ+ Museum
• Pedro Regalado, assistant professor at Stanford University
• Judith Wellman, emerita professor at SUNY Oswego

This film is a multi-screen video installation produced for the exhibition Revolutionary New York at the New York State Museum.