WASHINGTON (July 1, 2026) – Americans across the country will celebrate Independence Day with parades, fireworks, community gatherings, and patriotic traditions commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Beyond the celebrations, Independence Day is a time for Americans to reflect on the country's history and the values that continue to shape it today. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the holiday also offers a moment to reflect on the events, values, and institutions that have shaped the American experience.
Faculty experts at George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis, and commentary on topics related to Independence Day and the issues influencing the country's future. To schedule an interview with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations at gwmedia
gwu [dot] edu (gwmedia[at]gwu[dot]edu).
American History
Denver Brunsman is the department chair at the George Washington University Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. Brunsman writes on the politics and social history of the American Revolution, the early American republic, and the British Atlantic world. His courses include “George Washington and His World,” taught annually at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. He is the author of the books George Washington and His World: Enslaver, Revolutionary, President (2026) and The Evil Necessity: British Naval Impressment in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World (2013), co-author of a leading U.S. History textbook, Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People (2016; 2020), and co-editor of The American Revolution Reader (2014), among other publications.
Quito Swan is a professor at the George Washington University Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. Professor Swan is an expert in Africana Studies and History. A public-facing scholar of Black internationalism and the African Diaspora, he has single-authored three books—Pasifika Black: Oceania, Anti-Colonialism and the African World (New York University Press, 2022), Pauulu’s Diaspora: Black Internationalism and Environmental Justice (University Press of Florida, 2020), and Black Power in Bermuda: The Struggle for Decolonization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).
Political History
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is a longtime public servant and higher education leader who has extensive experience tackling critical political and social issues throughout her career. She is the executive director of the GW Graduate School of Political Management.
Casey Burgat is the director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management and host of its Mastering the Room podcast. Prior to joining GSPM, Dr. Burgat was a Senior Governance Fellow at the R Street Institute, where his research focused on issues of congressional capacity and reform. In this role, Casey wrote regularly for both scholarly and journalistic publications, including CNN, the Washington Post, and Politico, and appeared on a variety of television and radio outlets. Dr. Burgat coauthored Congress Explained: Representation and Lawmaking in the First Branch, a textbook on all things Congress, published by the Sage/CQ Press in the fall of 2022.
Peter Loge is an associate professor at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. Professor Loge has over 30 years of experience in politics and communications. He currently leads the Project on Ethics in Political Communication at the School of Media and Public Affairs.
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