The SPJ Virginia Pro chapter organized a reading of the Virginia Declaration of Rights on Dec. 11, 2021, at Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason, the author of the Declaration.
The Declaration of Rights became the model for the later Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, and the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution, as written by James Madison. Both men, Virginia residents, were friends of Mason.
At the grave site of Mason, the participants in the program read the Declaration. The DC Pro Chapter was invited, along with student SPJ chapter members in the area, to participate in the event activities.
Later the group got to see historic items behind the scenes at Gunston Hall, including Mason’s own copy of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke. The museum curator also pulled out other items of historic importance and interest from Mason’s time.
Material pulled out included the edition of Locke and news stories during Mason’s time as the new nation debated the proposed Constitution and later the Bill of Rights, which Mason and others wanted included in the document.
The group also got a briefing on how the foundation that operates Gunston Hall is learning more about the enslaved people of Mason’s time and their lives.
The event was organized by the president of the SPJ Virginia Pro chapter, Dina Weinstein. She said the program is a return to a VA-SPJ annual event. She said she looks forward to working with other SPJ chapters in the area — Washington, D.C., Pro and campus chapters — to make the visit to Gunston Hall and the reading of the Virginia Declaration of Rights a major annual event.