It’s like being transported back in time to experience what it would be like to mingle with Thomas Jefferson. Bill Barker, the nation’s best Jefferson interpreter, will talk about slavery and the author of the Declaration of Independence during presentations co-hosted by the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, Gerald R. Ford Foundation and Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
Barker will first give a presentation to area high school and Grand Valley students on Tuesday, March 13, from 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. at Loosemore Auditorium in the DeVos Center of Grand Valley’s Pew Campus, 401 W. Fulton St. He will then speak at 7:30 p.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Museum auditorium in downtown Grand Rapids.
“Bill Barker is so hauntingly like Thomas Jefferson that people will feel as if they are in the founder’s presence,” said Gleaves Whitney, director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. “Bill is more than a character interpreter. He is an avid student of Jefferson and his times, and he continues to grow in his understanding of our third president. There is no better Jefferson than Bill Barker.”
Barker has portrayed Thomas Jefferson in a variety of settings over the past 20 years. He first came to Colonial Williamsburg in the spring of 1993 to perform as Jefferson in a film made to honor Ambassador and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg. He has continued to appear as Jefferson in Colonial Williamsburg and assists in the development of Jefferson programs.
Over the years he has evolved a repertoire of Jefferson presentations tailored to corporate and government audiences, as well as schools, societies and festivals. Barker performed as Jefferson at the White House, the Palace of Versailles and throughout the United States, Great Britain, and France. He has been featured as Jefferson in several magazines including Time, People, Atlantic, Philadelphia, Southern Living, Reader’s Digest, and the Colonial Williamsburg Journal.
He appeared as Jefferson in programs aired on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, The History Channel, and C-SPAN. He has received commendations from The City of Philadelphia, The City of St. Louis, The City of New Orleans and The Hellenic Ideals Foundation.
For more information, contact the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at (616) 331-2770 or visit www.allpresidents.org.
Barker’s visit is a part of Remembering the Crossings events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. For a complete list of events, visit www.gvsu.edu/abolition.
