John Marshall, print by J. H. E. Whitney after St. Mémin, 1889; Woodrow Wilson, photograph by Pach Brothers, 1912. Library of Congress.
What should we do when we learn that national heroes were more complicated than we thought? Can a flawed person be separated from their professional legacy? Which traits matter most in deciding who counts as a hero, or should we stop making heroes of historical figures at all? Many Americans have wrestled with these questions in recent years. This National Park Service lesson, written for middle school but adaptable to any age, explores them through two figures. It was adapted by Talia Brenner and Katie McCarthy from two Teaching with Historic Places lessons.
John Marshall: personal and professional lives
John Marshall was the fourth chief justice of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1835, and is widely praised for decisions that made the Supreme Court the powerful branch of government the Constitution envisioned.
The John Marshall House in Richmond, Virginia, in the 20th century. National Park Service, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Marshall lived in Richmond, Virginia, in what is now the John Marshall House, and over his lifetime he enslaved well over a hundred people there. Some argue that he should still be considered a hero for his great decisions despite this. But the lesson points out that his less famous rulings also upheld slavery. In Mima Queen v. Hepburn (1813), an enslaved woman named Mima Queen sued for her freedom, arguing that because her great-grandmother had been free, she should be free too. Marshall and a majority of the Court ruled that her claim was not strong enough and that she must remain enslaved. Supreme Court decisions shape how other judges decide similar cases, so in this and other cases Marshall not only denied Mima Queen her freedom but also affirmed white Americans' power to enslave people. His support for slavery, the lesson concludes, ran through both his personal and his professional life.
Questions for discussion
- How were Marshall's personal and professional lives connected?
- Would you consider him a hero? Why or why not?
- Can a historical figure's personal and professional lives ever be separated when judging whether they are a hero?
Woodrow Wilson: intent versus impact
President Woodrow Wilson has long been praised for his international work, especially helping establish the League of Nations, which existed from 1920 until the United Nations replaced it in 1946. Wilson tried to bring the United States into the League, though it never joined.
More Americans have recently drawn attention to Wilson's racism. He segregated the federal workforce and screened the racist film The Birth of a Nation at the White House. His racism shaped his international work too. Wilson often spoke of self-determination, the idea that a nation should be able to choose whether to be independent. In a 1918 speech to Congress he declared: "National aspirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent."
Speeches like this helped popularize the idea, but Wilson meant it only for Europeans. He believed Africans and Southeast Asians were less capable of governing themselves than white people, and the League of Nations did not let colonized peoples in Africa and Southeast Asia claim self-determination; those regions entered the League as colonies of European countries and Japan, suffering economic and social harm along with a lack of political freedom. Yet in the 1950s and 1960s, colonized peoples in Africa and Southeast Asia used the language of self-determination to fight for independence: an idea Wilson had helped popularize, though he never meant it for them.
Questions for discussion
- How did Wilson promote racism at home and abroad?
- How did his intention for self-determination differ from its eventual impact?
- Can his work promoting self-determination be considered heroic?
- In judging a historical figure, which matters more, their intentions or the impact of their actions?
Activity: what makes a hero?
Students research a "hero" from American history who was also responsible for harmful beliefs or actions, alone or in small groups, using credible sources. Suggested figures include Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Sanger and John Muir. For each, students consider how the person is honored (celebrations, statues, awards, films), why they are seen as a hero, what harm they caused, and whether and how they should be remembered. A group discussion follows: What are the problems and advantages of treating historical figures as heroes? Which traits matter most? Why do people make heroes of historical figures, and should we look to history for heroes at all?
To wrap up, students reflect on what it means to be an American hero, whom they look up to in their own lives, which local monuments honor people considered heroes, and why it matters to consider the whole of someone's life before calling them a hero.
Sources
- National Park Service, "(H)our History Lesson: What About Heroes?: Marshall and Wilson," adapted by Talia Brenner and Katie McCarthy. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/-h-our-history-lesson-what-about-heroes-marshall-and-wilson.htm
- Full lessons: "'The Great Chief Justice' at Home," https://www.nps.gov/articles/-the-great-chief-justice-at-home-teaching-with-historic-places.htm; "Woodrow Wilson: Prophet of Peace," https://www.nps.gov/articles/woodrow-wilson-prophet-of-peace-teaching-with-historic-places.htm
- Paul Finkelman, Supreme Injustice (2018), via Michael S. Lewis, University of New Hampshire Law Review 17(2) (2019); IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, "On This Day in Supreme Court History—February 5, 1813"; Wilson's address of February 11, 1918, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
- The source credits the Marshall print as "after St. Mamin"; the artist's name is given here as St. Mémin.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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