Now in its eleventh season of production, Shaping the World: Conversations on Democracy brings together Thomas Jefferson and his contemporaries with bright young minds from local classrooms. Elementary and middle school students interview Thomas Jefferson and a historical guest, hearing first hand about daily life, politics and culture in early America. The program is filmed in conjunction with Poplar Forest’s annual “Conversations with Thomas Jefferson” event.

Filmed each spring, the student interviews are used to create an educational program that is aired annually in the fall by Blue Ridge Public Television and other public broadcasting stations in Virginia. It is also video-streamed by Virginia’s Education Department to schools throughout the Commonwealth. Fall airing dates and the associated web curriculum containing lesson plans and support materials are announced in late summer.   

Thomas Jefferson is played by renowned interpreter Bill Barker, courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Barker has been Poplar Forest’s Jefferson since the beginning of the democracy programs and is certainly no stranger to Poplar Forest student and adult audiences. He has performed as Jefferson for more than 20 years, appearing at the White House and the Palace of Versailles as well as in programs aired on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and C-SPAN.

For more information on the program, contact Director of Interpretation and Education Octavia N. Starbuck, Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest at 434-534-8108 or Octavia@poplarforest.org.

This program is presented in partnership with Blue Ridge PBS, the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Virtual Advanced Placement School.

Shaping the World: Conversations on Democracy is generously supported by the Greater Lynchburg Community Trust.