The untold story of the founding of the United States
The Providence Project is a historical drama that weaves the experiences of our ancestors into an epic story. The captivating tale communicates the importance of southeastern Pennsylvania—Lancaster to Philadelphia—and its people to our nation’s founding and to the establishment of original core American values. The story ties together the many different cultures living in this part of Pennsylvania during the late 1600s and 1700s.
This book/TV series presents the untold story of the founding of the United States. It differs from other narratives in that it draws into the center of the story this land’s first inhabitants, the Native Americans who had lived here for millennia prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The project gives voice to all the cultures—Native, African, and European—at play in Penn’s Woods leading up to the American Revolution, and this sets it apart from other treatments of this time period. It brings forth the voice of the region’s African Americans, both free and slave, and presents them, along with American Indians, with an authentic identity. Throughout the saga, all of the different cultures are tied together through collaboration and conflict among and within these different groups.
While most of the families are real and the stories are true, this is not strictly a history, nor is it a documentary. The goal is a PBS-style drama (such as Downton Abbey) that brings the cultures and history alive through compelling characters.
The Providence Project story has the potential to guide our own personal and national journeys today. This TV series represents an extraordinary opportunity, a great opening for America to explore a new frontier—our past—in a way that has never been done. And in so doing, we can arrive at a new shore, with a new understanding of who we are and of our place in the world.
