Omar Eaton-Martinez, Senior Vice President for Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has worked to make historic sites more relevant, equitable, and accountable to the communities whose stories they hold. At a moment when interpretation and institutional independence are under political pressure, this session asks who has the authority to tell difficult histories and what is lost when complexity is replaced by a single, comfortable narrative. The conversation will explore community partnership, justice-centered interpretation, public trust, and how historic sites can connect past and present while telling a fuller American story.

Omar Eaton-Martinez — Who Gets to Tell the Story at Historic Sites?