At the front of the dining hall in a Eugene retirement home, Raymond Brown stands dressed in a tricorn hat and colonial coat, with his long white hair tied back in a bow.
An elaborate display of fake 18th-century trinkets and a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence sits behind him as he begins his presentation.
For Brown, a retired Bethel School District history teacher, performances like this aren't reserved for the Fourth of July. Nearly two decades after leaving the classroom, he still spends much of his time speaking at schools and civic groups, sharing America's founding documents with anyone willing to listen.
"I don't limit myself to the Fourth of July," Brown said. "I do this year-round.”
Brown's passion for history stretches back decades. He began teaching in 1974, spending five years in Ohio before, as he jokes, "following the Oregon Trail in a Camaro" to Eugene in 1979.
Throughout his career, Brown encouraged students to see history's most famous figures as ordinary people.
"We sometimes mythologize these heroes in American history, and I never really liked to do that,” he said. “I always wanted the kids to know that these were regular people who did extraordinary things, and they too could make a difference."
In 2005, Brown decided it was time to follow his own advice.
He commissioned a set of colonial-era clothing from an artisan in Albany. While waiting nearly a year for the outfit to be finished, he challenged himself to memorize the Declaration of Independence.
"I put a copy on the wall and started memorizing it,” Brown said. “Then finally I had the thing memorized. So here it is a year later, I had my outfit and thank goodness it was the Fourth of July and I began this journey."
That journey eventually led him much farther than local Independence Day celebrations.
A cross-country trek
In 2010, Brown walked from Florence, Oregon, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, carrying copies of the Bill of Rights along the way. He spoke with many people during the six-month trek, using conversations about history to encourage civic engagement.
"When I talk to people, I try to talk about what joins us rather than what divides us," Brown said. "We have so much more in common than so many people believe, and part of my mission is to get people to see that and get them to think about the state of affairs today."
During his presentation at the retirement home, Brown shared a story about meeting a woman who passionately defended the Second Amendment. He remembers asking her how she felt about the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights.
"She said, 'Well, what are they?'" Brown recalled. "Here’s somebody waving a gun around, and wants to protect her rights, and she didn’t even know what her rights were. And so many of us are like that.”
He continued, “I’m not anti-gun, I’m not here pushing that agenda on to you today. What I am pushing is education. I believe that the more we know, the more informed we are, the better decisions we can make."
As the nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of American independence, Brown hopes people celebrating also take a moment to reflect.
"The semiquincentennial, 250 years of American independence, I think is an important milestone," he said. "It's a time for reflection, it's a time for looking backwards and for looking forwards."
Brown acknowledges that America's founders often failed to live up to the ideals they wrote about. But he believes those ideals remain worth studying and striving toward.
"Yes, I can point to all those hypocrisies–and there's plenty of them–but I don’t want it to take away from the message," he said. "It's about an idea: To me, number one, it’s people's sovereignty."
Although he’s been retired for over a decade, Brown has no plans to stop teaching.
"I’m like an old plow horse that they’re trying to put down after all these years, and they’re on their side, their legs still moving," he joked. "Even though I'm out of the classroom, I'm still teaching and I still enjoy it quite a bit."
While the Fourth of July may bring larger audiences, his mission isn't tied to a single holiday. Whether he's speaking to students or residents at a retirement home, he hopes a conversation about history can inspire people to better understand the principles that shaped the nation.
Raymond Brown will have a booth on display at this year's Fourth of July Celebration in Harrisburg Riverfront Park.
