Monticello is a site of many meanings. The iconic Mountaintop was the plantation home of Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and America's foremost philosopher of liberty. It was also home to some four hundred of the more than six hundred men, women, and children enslaved by that "arbiter of liberty" over the course of his lifetime.

Jefferson's paradox—America's paradox—lies at the heart of Monticello's public interpretation. Over the past thirty years, the site has endeavored to tell an honest and full history of the United States through its daily tour offerings and educational programming. Today, Monticello embraces the cacophony of its meanings as inspiration for we, the American people, to hold these truths as we engage in the hard work of building a more perfect democracy.

Representatives from the site's Education and Visitor Programs department join historians from its Getting Word African American Oral History Project and International Center for Jefferson Studies to discuss Monticello's ongoing experiment in interpreting slavery at a site that is continuously adding to the historical record through active documentary, archaeological, and archival research. Panelists will discuss their experience engaging in an ethical interpretive practice that requires an ongoing commitment to civic engagement and perpetual (re)evaluation.