Who Cares About the Midnight Ride? Perspectives on an American Legend

What does Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride mean today, and who does it matter to? In this panel, a university professor, a high school teacher, and a public history content creator will discuss how the Midnight Ride resonates (or doesn’t) with their audiences. They will compare perspectives on societal trends that influence whether a historical event like this feels relevant today.

Moderated by Dr. Noelle Trent, Museum of African American History, Boston, with Dr. Eileen Ka-May Cheng, History Faculty, Sarah Lawrence College; Kerry Dunne, head of the History & Social Studies department at Lexington High School, and Ahsante Bean, creator of Bean Thinking, a YouTube channel exploring American politics through history.

About the panelists:

Ahsante Bean is a video storyteller and creator of Bean Thinking, a YouTube channel exploring American politics through history, psychology, and ideology. With a background in explanatory journalism, she challenges cultural myths and invites viewers to imagine a more just, inclusive democracy. A recent Us@250 Fellow with the New America Foundation, Ahsante is passionate about connecting the present to the past—including moments like Paul Revere’s ride that continue to echo in our national character.

Eileen Ka-May Cheng received her PhD from Yale University and is an associate professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth: Nationalism and Impartiality in American Historical Writing, 1784-1860 (2008) and Historiography: An Introductory Guide (2012). She is currently working on a book project on loyalist historians of the American Revolution and their legacy, entitled “The Loyalist Historians and Their Legacy: Plagiarizing the Nation,” and a book entitled “American Losers: How Defeat Made Our Democracy” (under contract to Yale University Press).

Dr. Noelle N. Trent earned a Masters in Public History, and a Ph.D. in United States History from Howard University in Washington, DC. Dr. Trent is an accomplished public historian and has worked with several noted organizations and projects including the National Park Service, the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, where she contributed to the exhibition Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876 – 1968.

Dr. Kerry Dunne has been a history teacher, department head, and director in Massachusetts public schools for 27 years and is in her fifth year as the History/Social Studies Department Head at Lexington High School. She is an adjunct instructor of education coursework at Boston University, Framingham State University, and Boston College.