Virginia Film Festival 2016: Liberty & Slavery: The Paradox of America’s Founding Fathers

2016-11-03-liberty-slaverySean McCord chats with director Troy Thomas and editor Christopher Marshall of Inertia Films about their documentary on the ultimate paradox of Revolutionary America: slavery.

Delving into the hypocrisies of the Founding Fathers’ position as slaveholders, Liberty & Slavery: The Paradox of America’s Founding Fathers attempts to better understand how the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution could have owned slaves, and why those who didn’t failed to insist on the abolishment of slavery. Investigating the well-known phrase “all men are created equal,” the film studies the essential contradiction of America’s Founding Fathers being champions of liberty, and yet simultaneously champions of slavery.

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Director Troy Thomas and Editor Christopher Marshall of Inertia Films

The film will screen at the Violet Crown on Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. and will be feature a panel discussion moderated by Giles Morris of Montpelier.