As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, this online program asks how the story of the United States looks when viewed from Los Angeles—a city whose diversity, innovation, and activism have long shaped the American West—and why that perspective matters now.

The conversation highlights how Los Angeles, as a dynamic hub of migration, cultural exchange, and social movements, has contributed uniquely to the nation’s evolving story. Panelists examine how Western histories of expansion, contestation, and civic experimentation reshape familiar national narratives. They also explore how this milestone commemoration offers an opportunity to reconsider the nation’s past and future through the lens of a city that has often led the way in imagining new possibilities for freedom, democracy, and community.

Panelists

• Stephen Aron, Calvin and Marilyn Gross Director and President and CEO of the Autry Museum, and Professor Emeritus of History, UCLA
• William Deverell, Professor of History, USC, and Co-director of the Huntington−USC Institute on California and the West
• Virginia Scharff, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History at the University of New Mexico

Discover more exhibition programs
Explore programs connected to Life, Liberty, and Los Angeles and other exhibitions across the museum—each offering a different point of entry into the histories, ideas, and communities that shape the American West. https://theautry.org/events/inspired-galleries

This program is part of the LA2026 Project, which brings together members of the public and humanities scholars for eighteen conversations at six partnering institutions in the Los Angeles region. Each discussion frames conversations about the anniversary of 1776 from the perspective of California and the West, encouraging public discussion about national identities, relationships between regional and national narratives, participation in democracy, and human relationships to the land.

The EMSI LA2026 project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities