Home › CNN       02.07.2026

Get Ready with Thomas Jefferson

Kurt Smith is an historical interpreter who has portrayed Thomas Jefferson in Colonial Williamsburg for a decade. Smith says the most common question he gets is how the founding father could have written “All men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence while he owned slaves. Ahead of the United States of America's 250th anniversary, CNN visited Smith while he was getting ready in 18th century garb to hear how he has come to understand this historical hypocrisy.

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