Článek As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its independence we discuss the increasingly contested concept of American identity as well as the historical baggage of the nation with American historian Jana Lipman. Over the course of a quarter of a millennium, American society has undergone a profound transformation. What began as an agricultural nation made up of 13 former British colonies has become a global economic superpower with rapidly growing cities and diverse population. So what should the US be celebrating today? Do Americans themselves have a clear sense of what unites them and what divides them? And is America truly an exceptional democratic experiment, or does its history also contain darker chapters that it must still come to terms with in order to move forward? We have invited American historian Jana K. Lipman of Tulane University in New Orleans to 5:59 news podcast to debate all of the above (and more). Listen to the full interview with Jana Lipman in English: Rozhovor ve verzi s českým dabingem si můžete poslechnout zde. While she admits she is not a particularly patriotic person and tends to be critical as any historian worth her salt would or should, Professor Lipman says the US certainly has a lot to celebrate on its big day, first and foremost the great local and regional variety of the country, the diversity of its people and the vibrancy and creativity of places like New York City, where she used to live, or New Orleans, where she now resides, - both „exciting places full of energy where people from around the world have come together“ to create or enrich the culture of the United States. As for the official celebrations of the big anniversary, that seem to have been dominated by the spectacle produced by the Trump administration's Freedom 250 organization, what Lipman detects in it, is „a very specific politics, which I think is trying to jettison and really try to push away a lot of the celebrations of American immigration and stories of the diversity of the United States“. Instead, she unexpectedly found a perfect encapsulation of what still makes the US such a dynamic and fascinating country in her eyes, in the celebratory atmosphere created by the US co-hosting this year's football World Cup, as she was able to witness during her recent visit in Boston. „Just to be there with all of the European fans, the Norwegians and the Scottish (..) and see local people decked out with Haitian T-shirts and Cape Verdean flags and Brazilian flags… There was a real sense of celebration that I felt in many ways encapsulated a lot of the positive elements and excitement about the United States,“ Jana Lipman shares her fresh experience from the city known as the cradle of the American revolution. But the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence also provides a good opportunity to take stock od how much of its core principles still inform the polity that is today's United States. Or why the history of slavery and enslavement, as well as the displacement of indigenous nations, needs to be front and center - as Jana Lipman says - in any honest look at what the US was built on an has not yet fully come to terms with. If you want to know why Professor Lipman bristles at the idea of American exceptionalism or why she finds the recent challenge to the birthright citizenship (that the US Supreme Court struck down earlier this week) unsettling, listen to the full 5:59 podcast in the audio player above. Editor: Pavel Vondra Sound design: David Kaiser Music: Martin Hůla Podcast 5:59 Zpravodajský podcast Seznam Zpráv. Jedno zásadní téma každý všední den za minutu šest. To nejdůležitější dění v Česku, ve světě, politice, ekonomice, sportu i kultuře optikou Seznam Zpráv. Poslouchejte na Podcasty.cz, Spotify, Apple Podcasts a dalších podcastových aplikacích. Sledujte nás na X, Instagramu, Threads nebo Bluesky. Archiv všech dílů najdete na našich stránkách. Své postřehy, připomínky nebo tipy nám pište prostřednictvím sociálních sítí nebo na e-mail: zaminutusest@sz.cz.