The Anti-Racist Community Network (ARCN) presents:

Can we save the 250th? A panel and discussion

MON JUNE 29 | 7 - 9pm ET, 4-6pm PT

The 250th Anniversary of the United States has been nothing short of chaotic. However, many historians are working tirelessly to draw attention toward productive and nuanced conversations of our history. Join us as we listen to five historians share their thoughts on the big ‘250’ and how they are engaging with it in their own diverse fields. 

MEET OUR ILLUSTRIOUS PANELISTS!

Jane Marie: Jane is a public historian focusing primarily on women's roles in the American Revolution. You will often find her at reenactment events nursing men on the field, or engaging the public to dispel the many myths about camp followers, and educate people on their integral part in the War for Independence. When not at an event, she is often buried in archives researching various taverns, or making Ipswich style lace. She is very active on social media, making educational or satirical history videos, with the hopes to share her knowledge on the contributions of women during the 18th Century.

Antoine Randolph Watts: Antoine is an American War of Independence and American Civil War reenactor as well as a first-person impressionist. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and currently a resident of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, He studied vocal music at Drexel University for 2 years. Portraying multiple real-life historical personalities from our country’s collective past, Antoine helps audiences feel like they have transited a time tunnel. He has been reenacting for 18 years in August and is the current President for the 1st Rhode Island Regiment/6th United States Colored Troops and Vice President of the 3rd United States Colored Troops.

Jon Scott Bennett: Jon Scott Bennett is a documentary filmmaker and historian who has gained recognition for his coverage of the Peekskill riots of 1949 as well as for his previous films covering under-discussed history, including The Pound Ridge Massacre and The Leatherman. Bennett bridges the gap between in-person and online audiences to share the important stories hidden in our backyard, blending education and entertainment to allow information that may otherwise fall flat or not be discussed in the classroom to resonate with audiences and provide a fresh and balanced perspective on history and our everyday life.

Drew Shuptar-Rayvis: (Pekatawas MakataweU “Black Corn”) holds a cum laude Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from Western Connecticut State University and a Certificate Degree in Archaeology from Norwalk Community College. A true American of the mid-Atlantic region, his family includes indigenous Pocomoke heritage, Pennsylvania Dutch, Welsh, Swiss, English, Scots Irish, Boyko Ukrainian and Ashkenazic Jewish, he honors all of his ancestors as a practicing living historian and regularly participates in colonial era reenactments, interpretations, and public educational events. He works diligently in the research and preservation of the Eastern Woodland languages, particularly Renape, southern Unami and Nanticoke and is educated in the many European languages at use in the Colonial Period. He was the first garden manager of Western Connecticut State University’s Permaculture Garden, and practices Native horticulture. In July 2021, Drew was elected by his Paramount Chief Norris Howard Senior and Council member Norris Howard Junior as Cultural Ambassador of the Pocomoke Indian Nation of Maryland. In June of 2023, Drew was hired as a contractual research and preservation specialist with Maryland State Archives where he worked to record oral histories, life ways and traditions of Marylands eastern shore tribal communities, this contractual work concluded in June of 2024. Drew also serves as the Algonkian historical consultant for the New Amsterdam History Center of NYC where he writes numerous articles on 17^th century Algonkian culture. In March of 2026, Drew was hired by the New York Historical, which serves as a historical society and museum for the city of New York, as a Curatorial Fellow in Native History. He is currently working on a 2027 exhibition on Seneca Chiefs Corn Planter and Red Jacket and will involve tribal oral histories, Drew is the second indigenous American employee hired by the institution in its 222 year history.

Stephen Pierce is a historian from Havertown, PA, outside of Philadelphia. He graduated with an MA in American History from La Salle University in 2020 and currently works at Harriton House and Park in Bryn Mawr, PA, home of Charles Thomson, Secretary to the Continental Congress. Stephen began his work in the museum field as a tour guide and researcher at Historic Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River in 2021. In addition to giving tours in Philadelphia, Stephen participates in reenactments, writes articles, gives presentations, and creates online history content under his history company, America's Rising Son. Right now, Stephen's research focus is on the forgotten people of the Delaware Valley Region, the Life of Young George Washington, the preservation of the President's House Slavery Memorial at 6th and Market, and telling the overlooked history of class politics in the American Founding.

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About the Anti-Racist Community Network (ARCN)

We are building a pathway to the emerging anti-racist, multiracial society…

The ARCN is a multiracial, anti-racist online community working to achieve racial justice and end white supremacy through activism and organizing. Our members want to be actively networking against racism and white supremacy. Through education and activism, we are working together for real and lasting societal change.

The Anti-Racist Community Network is owned and operated by the Center for the Study of White American Culture, Inc. Founded in 1995, we are known in anti-racist circles. Our operating philosophy for ARCN is to create a big tent. If you are comfortable working under our explicit expectation that you support racial justice and building anti-racist multiracial community, then you are welcome and we invite you to come.

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