Philadelphia History Meetup

The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will hold its next book club meeting on Tuesday, September 15 at 7 pm on Zoom. The September Book Club selection will be Cocked & Boozy: An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution. In Cocked and Boozy―two of Benjamin Franklin’s 200 terms for drunkenness―public historian Brooke Barbier examines the role that alcohol played in spurring, binding, and winning the American Revolution and how it shaped the nascent United States.

The intoxicating story begins in 1763 after the end of the French and Indian War and spans until 1800, with the presidential election of Thomas Jefferson. During these nearly four decades, Americans witnessed unprecedented disorder and prodigious growth, and through it all―powering it, in fact―was alcohol.

Every chapter concludes with an eighteenth-century cocktail recipe made for modern tastes, so readers can participate in their own historic tippling.

There is no fee to join the book club and everyone is welcome! Participants should come ready to discuss the book. The Zoom link will be sent out the week of the meeting in the APT Tour Talk email. Non-members who wish to attend should contact APT Secretary Pam Covey phillyguides@gmail.com by 5 pm the day of the meeting to get the Zoom link.

The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) is pleased to announce a free Zoom webinar on Wednesday September 23 at 7 pm with John Garrison Marks, author of the recent book, Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory. His perspective is particularly valuable now as guides in Philadelphia grapple with how best to interpret the President’s House/ Slavery Memorial with a full set of rewritten panels.

How should we remember George Washington’s entanglement in slavery? Americans have argued over that question for nearly 250 years. More than any other Founding Father, Washington’s ties to slavery have vexed us. He enslaved more people than any of his fellow founders, yet he was the only one of them to emancipate the people he held in bondage. Since his death, Americans have grappled with this contradiction, shaping and reshaping our collective memory of Washington and slavery—along with our understanding of the nation.

In this talk, historian John Garrison Marks tells the story of Americans’ long, fraught struggle to come to terms with Washington’s legacy of slavery. He traces how politicians, abolitionists, educators, activists, Washington’s former slaves and their descendants, and others have remembered, forgotten, and manipulated slavery’s place in Washington’s story, and how they have wielded versions of that story in the political and cultural fights of their time. Marks shows how generational struggles over our collective memory of Washington and slavery have always been part of a bigger conversation about defining the United States and its people.

As debates about the founders’ participation in the system of slavery continue to roil public discourse, Marks shows with new clarity that Americans have never collectively reconciled Washington’s conflicted legacy—but by truly grappling with Washington’s role as enslaver and emancipator, we may come to better understand the nation and ourselves.

John Garrison Marks is a historian and writer whose work explores history, museums, and the ways Americans engage with the past. He is the author or editor of three books, and his work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, TIME, Smithsonian Magazine, and elsewhere. His latest book, Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory (2026), explores how generations of Americans have thought, and fought, about slavery’s place in George Washington’s legacy over the past 250 years. Marks is also a leader in the public history field. He also serves as the Director of the Public History Research Lab at the American Association for State and Local History, where he has worked since 2017. He earned a Ph.D. in history from Rice University.

RSVP on the event page of the APT website to reserve your spot. Sign ups will close at 6 pm on September 23. The Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before the event. Contact APT President Marianne Ruane president@phillyguides.org with any questions.

It promises to be a fascinating event whether or not you currently lead tours at the President’s House/ Slavery Memorial site – although if you do, this session is a MUST! All are welcome; please join us.