Montiero, an assistant professor of American studies and history at Rutgers University, Newark. Gordon-Reed, who said she loved the musical and regularly listens to its soundtrack, was responding to an essay in the journal The Public Historian by Lyra D. When slavery and race do come up in the musical, they do so “primarily to establish Hamilton’s ‘goodness’ for modern audiences,” said Harvard University’s Annette Gordon-Reed in an essay for the National Council on Public History. Some historians say Miranda’s musical inflates Hamilton’s antislavery credentials, painting him as a “revolutionary manumission abolitionist” when, they say, he was less progressive on the issue of slavery in real life. (We reached out to Miranda and Chernow but did not hear back.) On race and Hamilton’s position toward slavery

“But if the musical were the only perspective on the events of Hamilton’s career that most people got, the version portrayed on stage is actually pretty good and could be a lot worse.”īelow, we’ve compiled a non-exhaustive list of inaccuracies in Hamilton, big and small. “ Hamilton the musical should not be taken as the last word on these topics, and certainly not as the only word,” said Todd Estes, professor of history at Oakland University. That conversation is bound to continue as the Broadway hit migrates to the TV screen and becomes available on Disney+ beginning Friday. Miranda has often described his work as “the story of America then, told by America now.” But even some scholars who say they admire Miranda’s multiracial cast - and the catchy songs they sing - have weighed in on whether the play’s largely heroic portrayal of Hamilton is accurate.Īt the least, the musical has got people talking about Hamilton, his legacy and the revolutionary era. The biggest controversy we found among historians is a debate over whether Miranda’s Hamilton is too kind to its protagonist.

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