Kathleen DuVal shares expertise in ‘The American Revolution’

Kathleen DuVal’s American Revolution course at Carolina usually enrolls around 150 students, but last week she shared history lessons with a few additional people — millions of them, actually.

DuVal, the Carl W. Ernst Distinguished Professor of History in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, was one of several historians featured in “The American Revolution,” the 12-hour film from documentarians Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt that debuted nationally on PBS last week.

“I have been in documentaries before, but a Ken Burns film is a whole different level,” DuVal said. “It’s really quite incredible to be featured in a documentary that huge numbers of people will see. I’m getting messages from people all over the state and the country about how they learned new things from what I said.”

Kathleen DuVal and Ken Burns. (Submitted photo)

DuVal’s connection to “The American Revolution” goes back to 2022. That’s when Botstein, Schmidt and another producer contacted her about her research and ultimately invited her to come to New York for an on-camera interview.

One of the film’s objectives is showing how the Revolutionary War’s impact extended well beyond the familiar conflict between the British and independence-seeking colonists. Duval, who won the Pulitzer Prize in May for her book on Native American nations and communities, helped further that effort.

“The film uses my expertise on Native American history, Spanish and French involvement in the war, and women’s history,” DuVal said. “I talked about how women were central to the war, from the battlefield to the homefront. And I talked about the international aspects of the Revolution through both Native nations and European empires.”

DuVal is at least the third historian with ties to Carolina to be featured in a Ken Burns documentary. Alumnus Shelby Foote ’39 was a fixture in the 1990 film “The Civil War” and William Leuchtenburg, William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History, appeared in 2014’s “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” and 2011’s “Prohibition.” He also consulted on several other Burns projects through the years.

(PBS/Florentine Films)

“I count myself so fortunate,” Leuchtenburg said in 2014. “It is the most exhilarating thing I do and have done. To have a very first reading of the script of a new film, to have a chance to suggest ways that it might be changed, to be closely listened to by Ken, who, of course, makes the final decision, as he should. It’s just a terrific experience.”

Leuchtenburg consulted on “The American Revolution” until the time of his death in January at age 102. DuVal was grateful to have one last connection to a fellow historian from Carolina through their work on Burns’ most recent project.

“It was fascinating to learn about the long and generative relationship that he [Leuchtenburg] had with Ken Burns,” DuVal said. “It’s wonderful to see his name along with mine in the list of scholarly advisers at the end of each episode.”

DuVal hopes the release of “The American Revolution” just before America marks a major milestone helps the film strike an even more important tone.

“The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is an important time to reflect on the creation of our country and what it meant back then and still means today,” DuVal said. “Sometimes we take our republic for granted, but countless men and women struggled to create this country and, ever since, to try to help it live up to its promises.”

“The American Revolution” is available for streaming on pbs.org and other platforms. DuVal will deliver the keynote address at Carolina’s Winter Commencement on Dec. 14.