Southeastern University FireScholars Selected Honors Theses Spring 2018 WHO LIVES, WHO DIES, WHO TELLS YOUR STORY: A CASE STUDY OF HAMILTON: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT OF ENGAGING THE PAST IN THE CULTURE OF TODAY Adrianna C. Halsey Southeastern University - Lakeland Follow this and additional works at: https://firescholars.seu.edu/honors Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Halsey, Adrianna C., "WHO LIVES, WHO DIES, WHO TELLS YOUR STORY: A CASE STUDY OF HAMILTON: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT OF ENGAGING THE PAST IN THE CULTURE OF TODAY" (2018). Selected Honors Theses. 120. https://firescholars.seu.edu/honors/120 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by FireScholars. It has been accepted for inclusion in Selected Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of FireScholars. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Halsey i WHO LIVES, WHO DIES, WHO TELLS YOUR STORY: A CASE STUDY OF HAMILTON: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT OF ENGAGING THE PAST IN THE CULTURE OF TODAY by Adrianna Halsey Submitted to the Honors Program Committee in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors Scholars Southeastern University 2018 Halsey ii Copyright by Adrianna Halsey 2018 Halsey iii This thesis is dedicated to my sister, Alexia. When I needed her most she was right on time. Halsey iv Abstract This thesis is a look into how Alexander Hamilton has been portrayed on stage in the musical Hamilton: An American Musical, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The goal of this research is to show that this musical is not history, but rather a commentary on current culture through one of America’s favorite stories (that of the Revolution.) In this show, past figures have been used to discuss the issues of modern America, and that is now being sold as history.