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RICHMOND HILL, Ga. () — When you think about celebrating Independence Day, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Probably fireworks and sparklers, but one man has made it his mission to help people learn the history behind the holiday.
Tom Hand of Richmond Hill created his platform, Americana Corner, back in 2020 as a way to educate people about early American history and bring them together through shared patriotism.
“I skirt politics completely. It is completely non-political, non-partisan, it’s just history but it’s history written from the standpoint that is a history of which we should be proud. You can write different stories different ways, and there’s a lot to be proud of and I want to focus on that,” Tom Hand, founder of Americana Corner explained.
Starting with the pre-Revolutionary War era, Hand posts a new story and video about a portion of American history every single week, growing his viewership to over 100,000 per post in the process.
He’s even started his own grant program to support a number of early American history organizations across the country.
“There’s a grant program that we came up with, this year was actually our first year, we gave away about $446,000 to 67 early American history organizations in 24 different states and we hope to expand that this year … the outreach we think can get even greater if we can reach more of these organizations, I think we did 7 or so here in Georgia,” Hand said.
Hand has been blown away by the support he’s received online in just over two years.
On Independence Day of all days, he wants Americans to remember why it is we celebrate the fourth of July, and how we earned the freedoms we enjoy today.
“We can’t lose sight of what we’re celebrating. We have to at least give a few moments, wave a flag, you know just watch some fireworks but remember it all happened because of what happened 250 years ago and we wouldn’t be here doing all this stuff if it haden’t been for that founding generation,” Hand explained.
Hand posts a new story every Tuesday with a corresponding video releasing each Friday.
He’s currently in the middle of a 10 part series on Ben Franklin.
