Join Alan Shaw Taylor, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, for "Tower Hill: Creating a Plantation during a Revolution" at 6 p.m. Thursday, December 10. In conjunction with the "Give Me Liberty: Virginia & The Forging of a Nation" VA250 Signature Exhibition, guests can explore the exhibition in advance beginning at 5 p.m.
 
A savvy merchant and planter, Richard Blow exploited the social and economic turmoil of the American Revolution in Virginia to acquire and expand a plantation with enslaved people.  His heirs crafted legends to give a patriotic spin to Blow's clever ploys that bore some ironic consequences, including cameo appearances by the Battle of Yorktown and, later, the great jurist John Marshall.

Get your tickets

Alan Shaw Taylor

^{Alan Shaw Taylor - photo by Dan Addison, UVA University Communications}

Alan Shaw Taylor received his doctorate in American history from Brandeis University. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Early American History and Culture in Williamsburg, Va., he taught at Boston University, the University of California at Davis, and the University of Virginia, where he held the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Chair.  In 2016-2017 he served as the Harmsworth Professor at Queens College, Oxford University.
 
Taylor has published eleven books, including "The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia," which won the Pulitzer Prize for American history and the Merle Curti Prize for Social History (OAH) and "William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early Republic," which won the Bancroft, Beveridge, and Pulitzer Prizes.

For a dozen years, Taylor served as the faculty advisor for the California State Social Science and History Project, which provides curriculum support and professional development for K-12 teachers in history and social studies. 

In 2016, he won membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His media consulting includes serving as an advisor and interviewee for the Ken Burns film, “The American Revolution,” first broadcast on PBS in the fall of 2025.

You might like...

About the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days) and located on Route 1020 near the Colonial Parkway in Yorktown.

A commemorative partner of the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown tells the story of the nation’s founding. Comprehensive indoor exhibits and outdoor living-history areas capture the transformational nature and epic scale of the Revolution and its relevance today.

Admission tickets can be purchased online or in person. Plan your visit today or call (757) 253-4838 for more information. Parking at the museum is free for museum visitors. A free shuttle service is available to Historic Yorktown on the Yorktown Trolley.