If you haven’t heard of Hamilton, there is a very solid chance you’ve been living under a rock for the last year.
In short, it’s a Broadway musical written about someone who seemed like one of least interesting founding fathers: Alexander Hamilton. Chances are, you skipped right over him in US History. However, if he ever did come up, he was simply known as the man who died in a duel. But Hamilton himself lived a life that was begging to be written about. Enter Lin-Manuel Miranda, the genius who conjured this show.
Somehow, Miranda turned the forgotten founding father’s life into what Michelle Obama called “the best art I have ever seen”. Though Hamilton’s life was incredible, I was drawn in by the show’s original cast: yes, it is the story of America then, but its ethnically diverse cast reflects America now. Author Miranda, who is the son of Puerto Rican immigrants, plays Alexander Hamilton in the original Broadway cast.
Each president in the show—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison—was originated by a man of color. Hamilton’s wife and son were played by actors of Chinese and Puerto Rican descent, respectively. In fact, the cast and ensemble are largely comprised of people of color. The casting of this show is unprecedented; for the first time, those of us who are minorities have finally made a true connection to our nation’s humble beginnings.
As a young Latina, seeing someone who looks like me or my family playing a founding father is something so beautiful and so rare that I still struggle to describe how much it moves me. I’m so used to seeing people like me in roles like construction workers, criminals, or housekeepers that a piece like Hamilton is groundbreaking. Though my parents are immigrants, I was born in America and I always felt separated from this country’s history.
Kat Burroughs, a freshman early childhood education major, said that “seeing the diversity of the cast gives children of color hope because they can now play roles that were originally for one race…they now know they have the freedom to be a founding father or someone else who made history.”
Thanks to Hamilton, I am finally able to see how this country’s history belongs to me just as much as it belongs to anyone else.
Hamilton star Anthony Ramos proudly clutches both a Grammy and the Puerto Rican flag.
If you haven’t listened to the soundtrack yet, check it out here!