He discusses trends in the field of history and his work at the center for social solutions at the university of michigan. Is the current president of the organization of american historians. You picked the theme for this years conference, the work of freedom. How did you come up with that and by . I was reflecting on what it means to be unamerican and i realized we often what it means to be an american and i realize we often dont pause to think about what it means. As a historian, freedom required work, required human beings to invest in creating a Democratic Society and our freedom should not be taken for granted, nor should the idea of working for freedom be taken for granted. What are the sessions or talks this year that speak to that theme . There are a number of them. There is one tomorrow afternoon, a powerful session talking about 400 years after the importation of the first African People from america, where the enslavement that followed set a boundary for what we meant by freedom. How can we have a society of free people when we enslave millions of people . That was the leading scholar of the generation talking about the 400th anniversary, a powerful example of the work of freedom. This idea of freedom, as you say, there were boundaries put on it. How did it evolve . It is fascinating, right . Each new set of historical actors begin to shape notions of freedom. Let me give you examples. Following slavery, one could talk about runaways, trying to define what freedom meant. How do you steal yourself to freedom . In a way of calling someone property and the contradiction between what a capitalist society would say about who owns property and what we think about as basic human rights and our ability to say, i am not property, i am a human being and i should be able to claim that. , there is a end discussion about individuals who want to exercise their freedom not to participate in war. They believed, conscientious objectors, that war is wrong. Protect thet to boundaries of society and our rights, i have the freedom to choose not to do so with a gun. Two divergences of the use of freedom over the years. Was the theme inspired by tragic history that you are seeing right now . Always. You begin to see through the new media that my students generation, some of their students are using from twitter and blogs to the ways of engaging the public in conversations about, what is American History . Who can be students of American History . Is it only for the academic historian or the k12 teacher, or are all of us students of history . Is history understood only in a classroom setting . How do you make sense of hamilton as a National Phenomenon . Inspires thisbook musical that becomes a smash hit , where you realize during the Obama Administration it is probably the only place where the cheneys and the obamas both went to the same event and had a similar vision of American History. How is social media impacting history and how we think about it, how we learn about it . I think social media serves as a teaser. Complext tell the stories of American History. We had a session last night that had journalists talking with historians about how we chronicle the past. One journalist said, our format is 800 words. We need you to write for us in 800 words. We had a bunch of scholars going, i am just Getting Started in 800 words. You realize with social media, 800 words is even too many, so it is like a teaser to get people to follow and anticipate, i need to know more about this. So our job is to give people the encouragement to go and follow the trail for future discovery. Beyond the annual meeting, what other hot topics are you seeing in history . A number. The whole question of truth and facts. Historians find themselves almost shaking whenever in the public media people are questioning whether truth and evidence of facts make sense. It is our bread and butter. We need to put a stake in the there are not say different interpretations. But that there is something hostile about factual evidence, for whatevermount position you are trying to raise her advance, that is a trend. Explain how historians see evidence, and how you think that as the American People and public are debating this, whether it is social media or watching News Coverage of it, how you think that they should think about evidence . Prof. Lewis thank you for that question. I actually think the American People should always want to ask, what are the sources . How do we know this to be true . What are the sources . Credible sources . And just because someone has an opinion doesnt necessarily make it fact, so can i discern the difference between opinion and fact . And are the sources sources that everyone would agree, even if they may have a point of view, they dont have a biased point of view. And if i am talking to the average american, i would say, make sure that you know the source. Make sure it is a credible source. Make sure you can go back when possible to an original document if you are so inclined. But always question, always question. Theou wear another hat, director for the center for social solutions at the university of michigan. What is it . Prof. Lewis i just returned to the university of michigan after a 14 year hiatus. Thes the president of Andrew W Mellon foundation in new york city, and provost of emerson university. I went back to michigan, i said its my last gig. My last 10 years on payroll. There are huge societal issues to confront, so we decided to address four of them. Diversity and democracy. More diverseward a society by 2044 when demographers say there will be a majority nonwhite population in the United States for the first time. Slavery, how do we address how slavery has not only affected the past but also the present. Water, not in michigan, not question fromut a the last few weeks, how do we move water from flood prone areas to drought stricken areas . We have the technology to do so. We have not produced the Public Policy for doing so. And finally, how to address the dignity of labor in an automated world . Projections say that by 2030 54 million jobs will eight disappear from the United States, one third of the contemporary american workforce. That is a lot of problems in a short time. How does water get put into the mix . Prof. Lewis water is also about jobs and social justice. Where people move and what jobs will be regulated by if they have access to clean, drinkable water, and can we also begin to control parts of our environment . A funny thing, in some ways, we use 18thcentury technology, sandbags, when we have powerful pumps that can move millions of gallons of water but we havent deployed them for that purpose. So we are thinking about the future of work, where people live, thinking in some ways about the diversity of society and opportunity. Water seemed like a natural fit in the beginning of all that. And its important to understand the history of those areas as well . Prof. Lewis absolutely. Think about the dignity of labor as an example. In an automated world. We went from an Agricultural Society to a Industrial Society to a postIndustrial Society to a digital society. Each one has a labor history. To understand where we may go requires us to have some understanding of that labor history. That is why at our center we want to talk about the dignity of labor. Widelyre economists saying we should have universal basic income, everyone should be on some kind of economic flooring, but that doesnt answer the other question. Almost everywhere in the west, much of elsewhere in the world, when people meet within five minutes the conversation turns to what do you do. That is why there is a dell about developmental, social and psychological aspect of being a community. That has a history. For us to think about how we plan for the future without understanding what we have been able to do in the past means we may be identifying the wrong problem and coming up with the wrong solution. Ultimately what you hope to accomplish . Prof. Lewis i hope we can do several things. One, that we can bring together the now dozens of projects and future work, for example, that exist in the United States. Our goal is not just to diagnose the problems, but come up with Workable Solutions in each of these domains. For instance, on the diversity side we have been publishing books with Princeton University press on the value of diversity for american democracy. We do not only produce the volumes, but we go into the communities. We have an event in pittsburgh in partnership with Carnegie Mellon university, where an author will be in conversation with rabbi meyer in pittsburgh. Whose synagogue was recently attacked. As we think about interfaith traditions in american life. That is not new. U. S. ,e had muslims in the jews in the u. S. Since the 17th century, and yet we have these corrupt ideas out there that these are somehow foreign elements on american soil. Our job is to show and showcase history. When you go to put together the annual gathering of historians, how do you try to strike an ideological balance . When people think about academia, many believe it is more liberalleaning. How do you balance the voices . Prof. Lewis i have been a professor and a provost, and i actually think that universities are pretty conservative places all in all, but i understand that perspective from the outside. We have a program committee. They look for a range of all programs, from military history to the history of business to the history of industrial technology, making sure it is not just one little piece of American History. They work really hard to find that balance. We partner with smaller societies that have a point of view. The society of the early american republic. They are a partner here. They identified several sessions this year as an example. We work hard to find partners to ensure that there is balance. I have to be honest, i have been a member of this organization for almost three decades. I have never done any kind of ideological litmus test. But in listening to conversations, from a diversity of perspectives and experiences, that informs the kinds of things that are being said, and that for me is encouraging. This year, we have 500 more people participating than last year. So that, to me is indicative that we have found the right balance. Current issues impacting what you are discussing today, and how will that impact the gathering in years to come . Prof. Lewis the huge question, going back to automation, there has way in which automation not hit higher education, but the role of adjunct has. With the decline of fulltime opportunities, we see more and more nontenuretrack faculty. We as an organization trying to think about our future, how do we attract them, who are they, how do we make sure we know what their issues are, and how do we think about history as not just owned by historians and major colleges and universities, but even our historians, our playwrights, journalists working on historical themes, so we have tried to be more publicfacing as an organization, and that is required more. What are you working on next . Prof. Lewis i am actually finishing a little book. I gave a series of lectures at harvard last year on advocat americans and Mental Health and Mental Illness from a historical perspective, so im finishing a little book there, and then working on a series of lectures on the humanities, and how human scholarship shapes the world. I will try to suggest that we vocabulary to a humanitarian, engineering, arts society, a way to think about a truly interdisciplinary approach to the american past and the american future. Earl lewis, thank you. Prof. Lewis thank you so much, it has been a pleasure. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, and programs are archived at www. Cspan. Org history. You can watch lectures in college classrooms, tours of historic sites, archival films and see our schedule of upcoming programs at www. Cspan. Org history. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country, so you can make up your own mind. 1979, cspanble in is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. This year, cspan is touring cities across the country exploring American History. Next, a look at our recent visit to detroit, michigan. You are watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Welcome tth