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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFifty years ago, Virginia newspapers welcomed the start of 1976 with references to the importance of thinking about lessons from 200 years of American history. The front page of Richmond Times-Dispatch featured the headline, \u201cBicentennial Brings Red, White, Blue Year\u201d and the official logo. The Culpeper News, in a New Year\u2019s Day editorial, encouraged readers to \u201clearn more about America\u2019s origins and why many people were ready to die for independence.\u201d The Daily Progress (Charlottesville) editorial, \u201cThe Bicentennial Year Begins,\u201d\u00a0 echoed this sentiment with a call for \u201cpreserving the great principles upon which this nation was founded and within the Constitutional precepts by which it is governed\u2026.It is a good time to review our entire experience as a free people–to take a sounding of our liberty and test its depth, and while doing so, test the depth of our commitment to its survival.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflecting the generational tensions of the era, the Wytheville Community Collegian asked a question more boldly in a New Year\u2019s Day editorial: \u201cAmerica: To Be Proud or Ashamed.\u201d A review of key processes in American history, including the forced displacement of Indigenous People, centuries of slavery, incarceration of Japanese Americans, and bigotry toward religious groups, ethnic minorities, and the poor. The final two sentences conveyed this sentiment most clearly: \u201cUntil we have equality of housing, food, clothing, and education we have nothing to celebrate! Two hundred years of independence is fine, two hundred years of equality would be better!\u201d By contrast, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, after reviewing all the difficulties of the past year, drew on this same history for a more encouraging outcome: \u201cBut above all, as this Bicentennial year begins, Americans can take heart in the knowledge that the courage, skill, dedication, and tenacity of our people which have sustained us over the past 200 years are still here to sustain us in the year to come. We have faced, and overcome, far more serious difficulties than can now be foreseen for 1976.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Editorial cartoons linked these themes in visual humor. Several newspapers published a cartoon showing a barefoot (and possibly unclothed) boy beating the drum along with two men in colonial costumes reinforced the message of the caption: \u201cThe Newcomer.\u201d A cartoon in the Northern Virginia Sun depicted an elderly man departing through a door into a snowy night while a boy stands in front of a mirror, wearing a colonial costume, no shoes, a tri-corner hat, and banner: \u201cSpirit of \u201876.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet even Virginia newspapers sought lessons from history, they also capitalized on the Bicentennial with advertisements encouraging consumption during the national celebration. The Orange County Review published an advertisement on New Year\u2019s Day with a baby, wearing a 1976 belt, sponsored by a car dealer. Several newspapers reported on the first \u201cBicentennial Baby\u201d born in 1976 their regions. These themes — patriotism, critical evaluation, commercialization, and celebration — would reverberate through the Bicentennial year–and they continue to renovate into this Semiquincentennial year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 8, 2026 by Tom Ewing Fifty years ago, Virginia newspapers welcomed the start of 1976 with references to the importance of thinking about lessons from 200 years of American history. The front page of Richmond Times-Dispatch featured the headline, \u201cBicentennial Brings Red, White, Blue Year\u201d and the official logo. The Culpeper News, in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319,"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions\/1319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bike76-va.vt.domains\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screen-Shot-2026-01-08-at-10.34.45-PM.png\")
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