Remarks: Illinois Humanities Announces Statewide America 250 Programs

Good morning, and thank you all for being here.  Deepest appreciation to Jose Ochoa and our hosts here at the National Museum of Mexican Art. We could not be sharing this announcement at a more meaningful location. Thank you to our Road Scholas and Community Conversation Facilitators who were able to join us this morning. And a very special thanks to the funders who have chosen to step up in this moment to help us make things happen, in particular the Field Foundation, the Walder Foundation and the Paul M. Angell Foundation. Our work is able to be truly statewide thanks to our partnership with theIllinois Arts Council Agency. 

We’re gathered today at the threshold of a milestone—America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

When the Declaration was signed in 1776, it wasn’t just a break from the past. It was a promise—a promise that in this country, people would share equality, freedom, and responsibility. 
Not just a declaration of independence, but a declaration of interdependence. 

That promise has never been simple, and it has never been finished. 
Today is about how we carry it forward—here in Illinois. 

For more than fifty years, Illinois Humanities has served as the state’s champion for history, heritage, arts, and culture—through grants and free programs that catalyze conversation, creativity, and connection. 

Today, we’re proud to step forward as a leading partner in Illinois America 250, and to help shape how this anniversary is commemorated across the state. 

Beginning today, Illinois Humanities is launching a statewide slate of initiatives that center people's diverse stories and ideas.  

At a moment when this anniversary can feel distant from our daily lives, we believe this is exactly the right time to step up and put the humanities to work. 

People are asking an important question: Who gets to tell the story of America? 
Too many voices were excluded in 1776—and too many were excluded again in 1976.  

Illinois Humanities is inviting everyone in—all classes, geographies, races, ethnicities, genders. Urban, suburban, small-town, and rural communities. Incarcerated and immigrant communities. All are part of our Illinois, and part of this country. 

At a time when the rough edges of our country's history are being flattened, removed, or erased, we are lifting up the details—the complexity, the contradictions, and the lived experiences that make our story real.   

History does not belong to institutions. 
History belongs to us. 

Our country’s promise of equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not something we inherit—it’s something we practice.  

If the Declaration offers a promise, our responsibility is to renew that promise publicly. 

We believe Illinois can model what it looks like when a state uses this anniversary to strengthen our civic fabric: generosity in disagreement

curiosity rather than certainty. 

We can ask one another: 
What does freedom look like to you? 

How do we pursue happiness today—through housing, education, health care, and community? 

Our goal isn’t to host a party. It’s to build public spirit strong enough to carry us into our country’s next 250 years. 

Illinois is a powerful place to do this work. We are, in many ways, the most American of states. This land has been shaped by Native American communities for thousands of years, right up to the present day. We are a crossroads of migration, labor, innovation, struggle, and reform. 

We hold both the contradictions and the possibilities of the American story—and that perspective informs everything Illinois Humanities is planning for 2026. 

Starting today, our free public programs will take place across the state, including an oral history project archiving conversations from people in all 102 counties. Together, these initiatives make the case in no uncertain terms that the story of Illinois is the story of America—and it is still being written by We the People. 

Please take today's announcement as your invitation:  

We are inviting everyone to be part of these programs: Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, Community Conversations, and Illinois Voices 250. These programs bring scholars, artists, and performers into communities across the state, uplift undertold stories and the spotlight the power of the places where people live, love and learn.  

Illinois Humanities is proud to help lead this once-in-a-generation moment by putting the humanities to work to help communities to tell their own stories, in their own voices, and to make history happen.  

Because the humanities matter. 
They help us listen better. 
They help us see one another more clearly. 
And they remind us that democracy is something we practice—together. 

It’s now my pleasure to introduce someone who embodies that spirit. 

Dr. Ted Williams is a historian and an Illinois Humanities 2026 Road Scholar whose work uses storytelling to connect the ideals of the Declaration to lived experience—past and present. He reminds us that history is not distant. It’s personal. And it’s powerful. 

Please join me in welcoming Ted Williams.