Few figures in American history have cast a shadow as long as George Washington’s. As the so-called “Father of our Country,” he is universally recognized. But how well do people actually know Washington?

Those are questions Dr. Phillip Payne will touch on in a public lecture at St. Bonaventure University later this month.

Payne will discuss “George Washington’s Shadow: Remembering and Contesting the Revolution” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 30, in Walsh Auditorium. The event, part of St. Bonaventure’s “America’s 250 Series,” is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.

Payne is a professor of History and the chair of St. Bonaventure’s History Department. One of his primary areas of interest is how Americans remember their own history.

“As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we are reminded that there are political stakes beyond the simple pleasures of the Fourth of July with its emphasis on picnics, fireworks and hot dogs,” said Payne. “From such ideological distant perspectives as Constitutional originalism and the 1619 Project, Americans live in the shadow of the founding moment. For a generation (if not more), George Washington stood as an exemplar of republican virtue, but our recent culture wars have fractured the meaning and legacy of the Revolution. This, as we will learn, is nothing new.”

Other events in St. Bonaventure University’s “America’s 250 Series” include:

• Monday, April 13: “Winning the War: Why American Victory was So Remarkable,” a panel discussion with historians from Emerging Revolutionary War 
• Monday, April 20: “Why Boston? A New Economic Interpretation of the American Revolution,” Dr. Stephen Pitt

• Monday, April 27: “The Revolution Today,” an open panel discussion

St. Bonaventure’s “America’s 250 Series” is sponsored by the History Department, the Jandoli School of Communication, and Emerging Revolutionary War. For more information about the series, contact Payne at ppayne@sbu.edu.

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 About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).