By John L. Micek

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — An appropriately picturesque walking bridge connects the Visitors’ Center at Colonial Williamsburg to the meticulously recreated historic site about a mile away. And every step along it is a step backward into our tangled, jumbled, and often painful history as a nation. 

At regularly spaced intervals, plaques set into the concrete remind you that in the not-too-distant past, there was no television and long-distance travel was onerous and difficult...