I have always been fascinated by historic sights, mesmerized by the thought of standing in the

very same place where history happened. As a kid growing up in New York, I enjoyed field trips to

places that commemorated the American Revolution in nearby Massachusetts, even more than I did getaways to

Great Adventure Amusement Park in neighboring New Jersey. History, of course, happens everywhere.

But pivotal moments in history happen only in specific places, and only a handful of those places

have been preserved.

So a year or so ago, when I was invited to be a part of a small focused think tank about

race and the legacy of American slavery at Montpelier, the Virginia estate of James Madison,

the nation's fourth president, I immediately said yes.

James Madison was the father of the United States Constitution.

He was also an enslaver.

He held more than 100 people in bondage at his plantation and never freed a single soul, not even upon his death.

So while the historian in me, as well as the kid in me, was enthusiastic and eager about being

a part of this dialogue at Madison's home, the African American in me, the brother in me,

had serious reservations. As a descendant of enslaved African Americans, I hold no affection

for those who kept my people in bondage, nor fondness for the forced labor camps where they toiled.

This is a part of that double consciousness

that Du Bois talked about,

the inescapable way black people see America,

because of the harsh way America treats black people.

These thoughts are not easily set aside, which is part of the cost of

being black and woke, so I carry these thoughts with me to the think tank. The Montpelia

...