As the United States heads toward the semiquincentennial (!) of the Declaration of Independence, as we near an election that’s uncommonly consequential (!), and as many worthy groups strive to rekindle civics in American schools and colleges, it’s time to revisit and revive the superb animated video series named Liberty’s Kids.
Originally aired on PBS Kids in 2002–03—not so long after 9/11—and rerun on many public television stations for a year or so, it’s been practically invisible for the past two decades, although you can find the full forty-episode series on YouTube at no cost (save for annoying short ads) and can buy a DVD via Amazon for less than $30.
Aimed at elementary school-age children, but enjoyable well into middle school, these thirty-minute episodes feature Benjamin Franklin (narrated by Walter Cronkite) and four wonderfully engaging (and diverse) children as they experience the Revolutionary War and the early days of the new nation, starting with the Boston Tea Party and ending with Washington’s inauguration.
Included therein is a fine episode (“The First Fourth of July”) on the reasons for, debate on, drafting of, and decision to declare the independence of the thirteen embattled colonies.
The “kids” in the series are a teenage girl from England, a fourteen-year-old colonial boy (apprenticed to Dr. Franklin), a mischievous eight-year-old with origins in France, and a somewhat older former slave who learned to read, bought his freedom, and found employment in Franklin’s print shop.
All manner of celebrities—Sylvester Stallone, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Douglas, and on and on, in addition to Cronkite—provided voices for the myriad historical figures that appear along the way, ranging from Benedict Arnold and Abigail Adams to John Paul Jones and General Cornwallis.
If you have half an hour to sample it, you’ll find all forty episodes listed and linked. For a taste you might try, episode 3, “United We Stand,” which goes from John Adams’s controversial defense of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, then back to Boston and the introduction of Abigail Adams (wonderfully voiced by Annette Bening).
It’s a terrific and compelling introduction for viewers to that period of American history and those who made it happen. Without being preachy or political, it cultivates an appreciation for what they did, why they did it, and why we should appreciate it two and a half centuries later. Which is to say, it lays a worthy, content rich, yet entertaining foundation for civics and citizenship as well as history and should be embraced by those attempting to reinvigorate those subjects in the K–12 curriculum and in the minds and lives of young Americans.
But Liberty’s Kids isn’t the only history (or civics) video worth the attention of students and educators—plus parents and other caregivers, as these are actually simpler to access at home. PBS has just launched a new Civics Collection, which is a bit of challenge to navigate but contains a raft of excellent material. Years earlier, Disney did a nice series of short animations about important presidents. The White House Historical Association has produced a charming set of profiles of kids who have lived with presidents in that grand building. (Some are grandchildren, many are young but some are marriage-age.) The “armchair historian” has a raft of them, aimed at older kids, though you have to subscribe. There’s a terrific series for teenagers, said to align with the AP course in U.S. history (circa 2013), on Crash Course. And you may pick up a few more leads here and—extending far beyond American borders—here.
That need not be the end of it. Motivated film makers could emulate Liberty’s Kids with other periods in our history that children would find interesting as well as entertaining and that they likely could relate to as well as learn from. Certainly the run-up to the Civil War—imagine a split screen with kids on both sides—and the origins of (and life during) World War II. Coping with the Great Depression. Life during the Cold War (sheltering under desks, missiles in Cuba, Sputnik). Another approach might jump around chronologically and depict kids during the times of—and having their lives changed by—key inventions, such as the telephone, the airplane, the TV, the internet, the iPhone.
Animation or not, videos or not, the challenge and task ahead is to envelop kids in their country’s history, help them understand where it came from, how it works, what it stands for, how it’s governed, and so much more, especially why it should be important to them. In my opinion, Liberty’s Kids is terrific place to start.
