--- description: “We have the opportunity to reclaim a history that some of us don’t necessarily think is our own.” title: Why History Has Its Eyes on Hamilton’s Diversity image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc228731d272a7016/6988746bf887dcee06e93a4c/hamilton-broadway-original-cast.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why History Has Its Eyes on _Hamilton_’s Diversity by [Adam Perez](/author/adam-perez/), [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) and [Salima Koroma](/author/salima-koroma/) Dec 15, 2015 5:05 PM CUT  Erik Madigan Heck for TIME Erik Madigan Heck for TIMETop, from left: Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr), Christopher Jackson (George Washington), Daveed Diggs (Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson). Bottom, from Left: Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler). by [Adam Perez](/author/adam-perez/), [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) and [Salima Koroma](/author/salima-koroma/) Dec 15, 2015 5:05 PM CUT In 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda, a man once not known to many outside his circle of Broadway legions, shed light on another man once not known to many outside a circle of knowledgeable historians. But Miranda took one of America’s founding fathers and turned him—and thus, himself—into a star. The Broadway show _Hamilton_ uses rap and hip-hop to tell the story of Alexander Hamilton’s rise to power during the American Revolution. The show broke multiple records for its cast recording and notched record-breaking sales of $32 million before it even hit Broadway. But the cast makes history in different ways, too, with men and women of color playing characters who were all white. There’s an African-American Vice President Aaron Burr, a biracial George Washington and a Chinese-American Mrs. Alexander Hamilton. “_Hamilton_ is a story about America, and the most beautiful thing about it is…it’s told by such a diverse cast with a such diverse styles of music,” says Renee Elise Goldsberry, who plays Angelica Schuyler, Hamilton’s sister-in-law. “We have the opportunity to reclaim a history that some of us don’t necessarily think is our own.”  Erik Madigan Heck for TIME Top, from left: Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr), Christopher Jackson (George Washington), Daveed Diggs (Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson). Bottom, from Left: Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4149415/hamilton-broadway-diversity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4149415/hamilton-broadway-diversity/"},"headline":"Why History Has Its Eyes on Hamilton’s Diversity","datePublished":"2015-12-15T17:05:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:33.667Z","description":"“We have the opportunity to reclaim a history that some of us don’t necessarily think is our own\"","url":"https://time.com/4149415/hamilton-broadway-diversity/","keywords":["Theater"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc228731d272a7016/6988746bf887dcee06e93a4c/hamilton-broadway-original-cast.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam Perez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/adam-perez/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"ashley Ross","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Salima Koroma","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc228731d272a7016/6988746bf887dcee06e93a4c/hamilton-broadway-original-cast.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"hamilton-broadway-original-cast","caption":"Erik Madigan Heck for TIME","creditText":"Top, from left: Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr), Christopher Jackson (George Washington), Daveed Diggs (Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson). 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