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The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a revealing vision of the American past and present.
In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story builds on The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project,” which reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This book substantially expands on the original "1619 Project, "weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself. This legacy can be seen in the way we tell stories, the way we teach our children, and the way we remember. Together, the elements of the book reveal a new origin story for the United States, one that helps explain not only the persistence of anti-Black racism and inequality in American life today, but also the roots of what makes the country unique.
The book also features an elaboration of the original project’s Pulitzer Prize–winning lead essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones on how the struggles of Black Americans have expanded democracy for all Americans, as well as two original pieces from Hannah-Jones, one of which makes a case for reparative solutions to this legacy of injustice.
In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story builds on The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project,” which reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This book substantially expands on the original "1619 Project, "weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself. This legacy can be seen in the way we tell stories, the way we teach our children, and the way we remember. Together, the elements of the book reveal a new origin story for the United States, one that helps explain not only the persistence of anti-Black racism and inequality in American life today, but also the roots of what makes the country unique.
The book also features an elaboration of the original project’s Pulitzer Prize–winning lead essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones on how the struggles of Black Americans have expanded democracy for all Americans, as well as two original pieces from Hannah-Jones, one of which makes a case for reparative solutions to this legacy of injustice.
590 pages, Hardcover
First published August 18, 2019
About the author
Nikole Hannah-Jones
18 books790 followersNikole Hannah-Jones is an American investigative journalist known for her coverage of civil rights in the United States. In April 2015, she became a staff writer for The New York Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,928 reviews
February 17, 2022
What a ripoff! Conservatives promised me a racist anti-american tirade and all I got was this deeply researched history of black people's struggles and contributions to our democracy and culture, and how there are many disparities stemming from slavery that still need to be fixed. I want my money back dammit!
November 7, 2021
For those who premise that Historians write truth, I, as an Historian, will boldly disagree. Historians write perspective that is grounded in the interpretation of Primary Source Documents created by people — ordinary people, powerful people, people who did, people who observed, and people who had no voice. Rather than attacking this book for not telling the «Truth» or as undermining the mainstream story of our nation,
The 1619 Project is a much needed opportunity for a candid and painful conversation about race in our nation. The contributors to this book are outstanding in their fields and provide cogent and thoughtful parts of this book. Their voices (and so many others) need to be added to the canon of American History and we owe it to History to consider their value in telling the American story.
The 1619 Project is a much needed opportunity for a candid and painful conversation about race in our nation. The contributors to this book are outstanding in their fields and provide cogent and thoughtful parts of this book. Their voices (and so many others) need to be added to the canon of American History and we owe it to History to consider their value in telling the American story.
November 17, 2021
Read it. Read it because a lot of people don't want you to, and the fact that they don't want you to should tell you something powerful is at work here. And it is. This collection of articles is simply amazing, and no matter what someone might want to think about the conclusions being drawn from these stories, no one can deny the obviously verifiable facts found within them. Whether you think America is still the same nation today that it was in the 16, 18 or 19 hundreds, what can't be denied is the importance and the power of learning the stories of the enslaved people and the victims of horrible racist violence throughout that history. Too often we only listen to the part of the story told by those still living to tell it, but by presenting the stories of actual lynchings, The 1619 Project at least reframes the conversation around the source and outcomes of that violence. Read it, even though it's hard. Read it precisely because it's hard. But for love of God, Read This Book!
March 31, 2022
Audiobook….read by a full cast of authors.
Voice narrator….Nikole Hannah-Jones, and full cast.
….18 hours and 57 minutes long
“This is our national truth: America would not be America without the wealth from black labor, without black striving.. . So much . . .
that we export to the world, that draws the world to us, comes forth from Black Americans m that is Black Americans’ Legacy to the nation . . . We cannot change the hypocrisy upon which we were found it . . . But we can atone for it. We can acknowledge the crime. And we can do something to try to set things right, to erase the hardship and hurt of so many of our fellow Americans . . . None of us can be held responsible for the wrongs of our ancestors. But if today we choose not to do the right and necessary thing, THAT burden we own . . . Yes we are to be redeemed, we must . . . finally live up to the magnificent ideals upon which we were founded”.
A successful purpose….
“It aims to reframe the countries history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.
The ugly truth is really ugly.
The project angers - it also encourages positive change.
5 stars
Voice narrator….Nikole Hannah-Jones, and full cast.
….18 hours and 57 minutes long
“This is our national truth: America would not be America without the wealth from black labor, without black striving.. . So much . . .
that we export to the world, that draws the world to us, comes forth from Black Americans m that is Black Americans’ Legacy to the nation . . . We cannot change the hypocrisy upon which we were found it . . . But we can atone for it. We can acknowledge the crime. And we can do something to try to set things right, to erase the hardship and hurt of so many of our fellow Americans . . . None of us can be held responsible for the wrongs of our ancestors. But if today we choose not to do the right and necessary thing, THAT burden we own . . . Yes we are to be redeemed, we must . . . finally live up to the magnificent ideals upon which we were founded”.
A successful purpose….
“It aims to reframe the countries history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.
The ugly truth is really ugly.
The project angers - it also encourages positive change.
5 stars
January 31, 2022
In this expanded version of the 2019 New York Times magazine of the same name, Nikole Hannah-Jones and a collection of scholars, journalists, and poets tell the story of how slavery and its legacy has shaped and impacted America across many facets of American life since the White Lion ship came ashore in Virginia in 1619 carrying at least 20 Africans onboard. Prose and poetry are used throughout the book to show slavery's lingering impact on topics such as: democracy, church, healthcare, medicine, self-defense, politics, traffic and so much more. Hannah-Jones the creator of the project is a powerful writer. Her writing opens and closes the book where she focuses on issues of Democracy and Justice, she did not come to play with those chapters. In them she makes the case for how Black people have been crucial in the establishment and expansion of our democracy and as a result have a right to be patriotic about this country; while at the same time makes the case for why Black people must have reparations. It is a well-researched book that is written in an accessible way for a general audience. A perfect book for book clubs and group discussions. It is my hope that this book as whole or its part has an impact on our society in the same way that Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America motivated civil rights activists to change and shape America for the better and as it also began to change the racist historical narrative of Reconstruction that was told by the Dunning school. The 1619 Project and other works that have been released in the last decade, many of which are cited in this book, have the potential to also shape how Americans view America’s past and our present moment.
July 12, 2022
Marvelous essays with a scatter of poetry and fiction to add a personal touch. I learned new things and gained perspective I hadn't considered. History is an infinite experience that varies from person to person. The only way to truly understand history is to see it from as many perspectives as possible. The desire to ban perspective is stupid. Yet this book—an educational textbook—has become a forbidden document in many schools.
I should be shocked by all the book banning, but of course I'm not. Reading this book makes me even less surprised because it's clear the same tactics to silence certain voices have been used for centuries. I only hope that the Americans who are mad at the 1619 Project will actually read it before developing an opinion. If you read it and it still makes you mad, that's your decision. But at least your decision will be based on something real.
Side note, the audiobook is highly recommended. Great performances by a full cast.
I should be shocked by all the book banning, but of course I'm not. Reading this book makes me even less surprised because it's clear the same tactics to silence certain voices have been used for centuries. I only hope that the Americans who are mad at the 1619 Project will actually read it before developing an opinion. If you read it and it still makes you mad, that's your decision. But at least your decision will be based on something real.
Side note, the audiobook is highly recommended. Great performances by a full cast.
December 19, 2021
I deleted the review. It was an interesting experiment. Please move on😃. Have a nice day y’all.
Currently reading
September 19, 2021Thanks PRH/One World for the advanced copy. I’m about 70 pages in and this is clearly the most important American History book written to date. Essential for all High School, Academic, and Public Libraries
December 4, 2021
4.25 Stars rounded up
I've read this twice and enjoyed it both times.
This has multiple contributors and is able to more than adequately defend its views and claims.
That said its not radical and is inaccurate in regards to capitalism ever being good or a benefit.
Chattel slavery ties directly to capitalism and can't be removed from it.
This is liberal but moderate despite the right wing emotionally rabid response to it.
I've read this twice and enjoyed it both times.
This has multiple contributors and is able to more than adequately defend its views and claims.
That said its not radical and is inaccurate in regards to capitalism ever being good or a benefit.
Chattel slavery ties directly to capitalism and can't be removed from it.
This is liberal but moderate despite the right wing emotionally rabid response to it.
June 19, 2023
Even though the Adam Hochschild published the review in the New York Times Book Review, I strongly recommend reading his review.
I read most of this in the NY Times magazine format when it first came out. This books expands on that and addresses some of the legit criticisms from the first publication.
Honesty, you should read this. The book is not a straight forward history, more of an argument for rethinking how we look at history and frame the US origin myth. Considering how much some, if not most, US schools leave out, this is an important bit.
Those who take issue with the history presented in this book either are not widely read on American history and/or have not taken an American history class outside of high school. The history here is widely available in other sources, some of which are footnoted/cited. As such, this book is more of an introduction or a push to get more people to think beyond the traditional myth. You may argue with the 1619 date (you could ask, for instance, why not a date from when the Europeans stole the land?) but you cannot deny the outsized impact that Virigina had on the development of the country in the beginning. Just like it should be impossible for the average person to not acknowledge the impact that slavery had and still has on this country.
Look, huge parts of this country have had American history taught to them via text books that were approved by the Daughters of the Confederacy. Think about that before you call this collection of essays propaganda. The history here isn't "new" the point- that it should be more widely known, that the origin frame story should be change is the new bit. And it is about time, really.
Towards the end of the book, in her closing essay, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes, "we must do what is just: we must finally live up to the magnificent ideals upon which we were founded". That's the point. Being willfully blind to the history that includes slavery and racism, doesn't do this. This book provides a framework to dismantle that willful blindness and learn more.
I read most of this in the NY Times magazine format when it first came out. This books expands on that and addresses some of the legit criticisms from the first publication.
Honesty, you should read this. The book is not a straight forward history, more of an argument for rethinking how we look at history and frame the US origin myth. Considering how much some, if not most, US schools leave out, this is an important bit.
Those who take issue with the history presented in this book either are not widely read on American history and/or have not taken an American history class outside of high school. The history here is widely available in other sources, some of which are footnoted/cited. As such, this book is more of an introduction or a push to get more people to think beyond the traditional myth. You may argue with the 1619 date (you could ask, for instance, why not a date from when the Europeans stole the land?) but you cannot deny the outsized impact that Virigina had on the development of the country in the beginning. Just like it should be impossible for the average person to not acknowledge the impact that slavery had and still has on this country.
Look, huge parts of this country have had American history taught to them via text books that were approved by the Daughters of the Confederacy. Think about that before you call this collection of essays propaganda. The history here isn't "new" the point- that it should be more widely known, that the origin frame story should be change is the new bit. And it is about time, really.
Towards the end of the book, in her closing essay, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes, "we must do what is just: we must finally live up to the magnificent ideals upon which we were founded". That's the point. Being willfully blind to the history that includes slavery and racism, doesn't do this. This book provides a framework to dismantle that willful blindness and learn more.
April 11, 2022
The 1619 project is a politically motivated story
U.S. history documents the success of American revolutionaries in establishing a new nation for freedom and prosperity. The Founding Fathers were at enormous odds to fight a formidable enemy to end English authority in colonial America. But author Nikole Hannah-Jones, calls her work the 1619 Project named after the arrival of first Africans on American soil. And she seeks to place slavery at the center of American history. According to her, the reason for the declaration of independence from England was colonial America wanted to protect the institution of slavery when abolitionist sentiment grew in England. The story of American founding fathers in this book is different from what we find in the U.S Constitution or American history. It portrays slavery as a uniquely American phenomenon and the revolutionary war was fought to preserve slavery. Hannah-Jones proclaims that Black Americans’ struggle made American democracy real. She claims that the U.S. Constitution gave ironclad protections to slavery without mentioning it. How is that possible when the constitution explicitly states that “all men are created equal.” There are other factual errors, enslavement did not start in 1619 but it was present decades before that.
Quakers comprised of only white population fiercely opposed slavery since colonial days and they were active in freeing slaves, documenting their stories, and connecting freed slaves with long lost relatives. American Revolution was kindled in New England, where anti-slavery sentiment was strongest. Early patriots like James Otis, John Adams, and Thomas Paine were opposed to slavery, and the revolution helped to fuel abolitionism in the North.
The publication of 1619 Project by the New York Times demonstrates that it does not care about the truth, as it has progressively moved to the Far-Left of the political spectrum. It hires and promotes journalists who belong to the woke culture, they misinterpret facts and glorify racism. This is an effort to falsify the history that focus on Black issues rather than the class conflict that occurred prior to 1776. The 13 states were deeply divided over the property right issues, economy, wealth and how a federal government may dominate individual states. The NY Times project is a conspiracy theory developed from the chair of ultimate cultural privilege in America that tries to discredit the American values. The book is malicious and inaccurate which offers a distorted economic history, misrepresents the intentions of Founding Fathers, and the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln.
The 1619 Project curriculum is not an educational enterprise. It is a tool of political indoctrination. Since its publication, school students in all 50 states have been taught parts of its curriculum. The core of the social justice training uses the ideologies Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the Marxism. To teach children that the American Revolution was fought to strengthen slavery would result in misunderstanding the American Revolution, and the loss of one million lives during American Civil War that ended slavery. The future American population will have the notion that their country is racist since day one. Currently, the 1619 Project applies a wide-ranging topics like the broken healthcare system, crime, American music, and the wealth gap.
U.S. history documents the success of American revolutionaries in establishing a new nation for freedom and prosperity. The Founding Fathers were at enormous odds to fight a formidable enemy to end English authority in colonial America. But author Nikole Hannah-Jones, calls her work the 1619 Project named after the arrival of first Africans on American soil. And she seeks to place slavery at the center of American history. According to her, the reason for the declaration of independence from England was colonial America wanted to protect the institution of slavery when abolitionist sentiment grew in England. The story of American founding fathers in this book is different from what we find in the U.S Constitution or American history. It portrays slavery as a uniquely American phenomenon and the revolutionary war was fought to preserve slavery. Hannah-Jones proclaims that Black Americans’ struggle made American democracy real. She claims that the U.S. Constitution gave ironclad protections to slavery without mentioning it. How is that possible when the constitution explicitly states that “all men are created equal.” There are other factual errors, enslavement did not start in 1619 but it was present decades before that.
Quakers comprised of only white population fiercely opposed slavery since colonial days and they were active in freeing slaves, documenting their stories, and connecting freed slaves with long lost relatives. American Revolution was kindled in New England, where anti-slavery sentiment was strongest. Early patriots like James Otis, John Adams, and Thomas Paine were opposed to slavery, and the revolution helped to fuel abolitionism in the North.
The publication of 1619 Project by the New York Times demonstrates that it does not care about the truth, as it has progressively moved to the Far-Left of the political spectrum. It hires and promotes journalists who belong to the woke culture, they misinterpret facts and glorify racism. This is an effort to falsify the history that focus on Black issues rather than the class conflict that occurred prior to 1776. The 13 states were deeply divided over the property right issues, economy, wealth and how a federal government may dominate individual states. The NY Times project is a conspiracy theory developed from the chair of ultimate cultural privilege in America that tries to discredit the American values. The book is malicious and inaccurate which offers a distorted economic history, misrepresents the intentions of Founding Fathers, and the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln.
The 1619 Project curriculum is not an educational enterprise. It is a tool of political indoctrination. Since its publication, school students in all 50 states have been taught parts of its curriculum. The core of the social justice training uses the ideologies Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the Marxism. To teach children that the American Revolution was fought to strengthen slavery would result in misunderstanding the American Revolution, and the loss of one million lives during American Civil War that ended slavery. The future American population will have the notion that their country is racist since day one. Currently, the 1619 Project applies a wide-ranging topics like the broken healthcare system, crime, American music, and the wealth gap.
December 8, 2021
This is a great book to have and read slowly. It is a combination of history, essays, poems, historical blurbs, that traces the Black American experience since 1619 through the present day. I get why so many people don't like The 1619 Project. It is an unflinching look at some of the terrible things that Americans have done to each other because of the color of someone's skin. You read this and you tell yourself that we have progressed and we have. But we still strive to make a more perfect union for all Americans. And it's plain to see by this compilation, Black Americans are still struggling to get on the same footing as White Americans. I loved how the book was put together and the 18 different chapters that we get into. I think that some of the essays/poems are honestly what hit me the hardest in some cases. I wish that we had gotten a second book that just had poems/essays based on The 1619 Project with maybe some art included. That would be an awesome coffee table book.
My favorite essay was by Berry Jenkins called "Troubled Water" where he tells the story of a slave named Gabriel in the 1800s. Gabriel was 24 years old and was an enslaved blacksmith held captive on a forced labor camp by Thomas Prosser in Henrico County, Virginia. He organized and planned a rebellion. After others shared details about the plot, "Gabriel's Rebellion" is thwarted. He is later tried, found guilty, and hanged.
My favorite poem was by Tim Seibles called "Before His Execution" which is a poem about Denmark Vesey. He was a free Black man. He and 5 others were captured and put on trial for planning a rebellion. He was executed.
My favorite chapter was chapter 8, "Citizenship" I loved the history in this one and it was interesting to find out things I never knew like there was a Colored Convention movement that started in 1830. They started discussing many of the so-called "Black" laws and the prospect of leaving the United States. I found out about Hezekiah Grice who organized the Legal Rights Association, which aimed to prove that Black Americans were citizens.
Most shocking history blurb was "July 30, 1866"
Another shocking one goes into Black Wall Street which I already knew about as well as the blurb about Emmett Till.
My favorite essay was by Berry Jenkins called "Troubled Water" where he tells the story of a slave named Gabriel in the 1800s. Gabriel was 24 years old and was an enslaved blacksmith held captive on a forced labor camp by Thomas Prosser in Henrico County, Virginia. He organized and planned a rebellion. After others shared details about the plot, "Gabriel's Rebellion" is thwarted. He is later tried, found guilty, and hanged.
My favorite poem was by Tim Seibles called "Before His Execution" which is a poem about Denmark Vesey. He was a free Black man. He and 5 others were captured and put on trial for planning a rebellion. He was executed.
My favorite chapter was chapter 8, "Citizenship" I loved the history in this one and it was interesting to find out things I never knew like there was a Colored Convention movement that started in 1830. They started discussing many of the so-called "Black" laws and the prospect of leaving the United States. I found out about Hezekiah Grice who organized the Legal Rights Association, which aimed to prove that Black Americans were citizens.
Most shocking history blurb was "July 30, 1866"
A white mob consisting of many Confederate veterans attacks protestors outside a convention in New Orleans, which has been called by Republican leaders in response to the state's legislature's passage of a law denying African Americans the right to vote. Among those killed in the ensuing violence is Anthony Paul Dostie, a white abolitionist who led the march on the convention. The mob also kills more than thirty-five other people, mostly Black men. National outrage over the violence helps lead to Republicans gaining control of both houses of Congress in that year's midterm elections.
Another shocking one goes into Black Wall Street which I already knew about as well as the blurb about Emmett Till.
November 26, 2021
Good primer. Most of this history is well known—and uncontroversial—to serious history readers but having it all in one place is useful. Given the excellent writing, it is not surprising it has become a lightning rod.
November 24, 2021
It’s kind of funny that this book is so controversial. Maybe I’m more radicalized than I thought but none of this felt like a huge overturning of what I knew of American history, at least the major parts. The 1619 Project looks at Black history, which is American history, in order to broaden our understanding of our country’s founding and progress. It adds a lot of nuance to American history, forcing its readers to look at how slavery, anti-slavery, and black lead civil rights movements have influenced us from the start. A lot of reviews chastise this collection of essays of being a “myopic” or “reductive” or “tunnel vision” view of history…but our current view of American history is reductive if we ignore (out of shame or ignorance or whatever) that slavery was a major factor in the foundation of the country. The book is a mix of nonfiction essays and fiction pieces, which I loved. You get meticulously researched, through essays, then emotionally evocative poetic or prosaic reflection upon the same topic.
I flip flopped between reading & listening and both options are great experiences:
Physical book pros: Pictures! Footnotes! Notes, references and an index in the back!
Audio book pros: A lot of the essays are read by their respective authors, including the poetry, which is great!
I flip flopped between reading & listening and both options are great experiences:
Physical book pros: Pictures! Footnotes! Notes, references and an index in the back!
Audio book pros: A lot of the essays are read by their respective authors, including the poetry, which is great!
November 29, 2021
Slavery arrived on America's shores well before the Founding Fathers - 1619 in Virginia. This is an expanded book based on a groundbreaking piece that appeared in the New York Times Magazine. Including 18 essays, 36 poems and a variety of fiction, it had my attention from the first page. Starting from that first slave ship through modern day all aspects of slavery and oppression are explored as well as daily life, society, the arts and politics. I was absorbed by the essay that discussed how our forefathers denied basic rights to African slaves while stealing land from all the indigenous tribes to further the white expansion and keep the top spot in the caste system. Unlike African Americans however, the Native People were given some rights but only after they converted to Christianity and further rewarded for taking slaves. We can only hope that this tome will open dialogue and foster understanding. This works for readers of books on social change as well as historians. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
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January 18, 2022
This is a must-read.
Like, every single American needs to have this in their hands and have read it. Require it in schools, require it everywhere. Gift it to your conservative family members who are racist as hell. Give it to your liberal whyte family members who are colorblind and practice tolerance.
Give it to all others, so we can have to smashed into our faces like we do the puppy who pees on the carpet for the 50th time that racism in America is baked into its foundations and spins like a pernicious weed throughout every single system within this country.
Like, every single American needs to have this in their hands and have read it. Require it in schools, require it everywhere. Gift it to your conservative family members who are racist as hell. Give it to your liberal whyte family members who are colorblind and practice tolerance.
Give it to all others, so we can have to smashed into our faces like we do the puppy who pees on the carpet for the 50th time that racism in America is baked into its foundations and spins like a pernicious weed throughout every single system within this country.
March 31, 2023
The United States is a nation founded on both an ideal and a lie. Our Declaration of Independence, approved on July 4, 1776, proclaims that "all men are created equal" and "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." But the white men who drafted those words did not believe them to be true for the hundreds of thousands of Black people in their midst. A right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" did not include fully one-fifth of the new country. Yet despite being violently denied the freedom and justice promised to all, Black Americans believed fervently in the American creed. Through centuries of Black resistance and protest, we have helped the country live up to its founding ideals. And not only for ourselves—Black rights struggles paved the way for every other rights struggle, including women's and gay rights, immigrant and disability rights.
Without the idealistic, strenuous, and patriotic efforts of Black Americans, our democracy today would look very different; in fact, our country might not be a democracy at all.
The 1619 Project documents the reality of the history of the United States through a collection of essays, poems, and short stories. This project is one of the most cohesive and eloquent collections of information on the true birth of the United States and its ideals; from 1619 when the first enslaved men and women set foot on what would be known as the United States to today when people are fighting for that very information to be hidden.
The United States of America is a myth. We know freedom isn’t free and we know the “American dream” is just propaganda. The 1619 Project is a plea for you to realize this, a plea to pay attention and consume Truth.
No one cherishes freedom more than those who have not had it.
Who lives up to the true potential of the United States? The founding enslavers that hypocritically preach freedom or the enslaved that believe in and fight for freedom?
Much of the information provided in The 1619 Project is not new. Much of it is obvious if you pay attention and open yourself (with the privilege of access) to an education. What The 1619 Project does is provide a cohesive whole that gives easy access to information that is vital but hard to find because it is so scattered. My opinions and principles have not changed, they have been reinforced. What The 1619 Project has changed for me is my ability to better argue for Truth because I now have a more firm foundation to uphold my knowledge.
If someone tells you not to read something, please read it as soon as you can. Don’t let them lie. Don’t let them manipulate. Listen to both sides of an argument. The 1619 Project provides the other side of the argument that has been purposefully omitted for hundreds of years.
The people that challenge books like this don’t do so because they believe them to be false. They do so because they believe the knowledge is dangerous for themselves—their power, their wealth, their politics. When someone is aware of the truth, they are then capable of refuting the lie. Ignorance is a foundation for manipulation. If ignorance benefits you, then you are the problem.
Why would a specific group of people fear easy access to education and books? Because knowledge destroys their base.
Those that seek to deny rights to others are not true Americans. Those that seek equality and access are representative of the true face of the United States of America. The true ideal that America was made to represent.
Black people have seen the worst of America, yet, somehow, we still believe in its best.
America has many faults: the plague that is capitalism, the imperialism, the poverty, the enslavement, the genocide, etc, etc, etc… But America represents an ideal that can be achieved by those that do not deny its history and it’s failings. Hypocrites preach from the highest perch. But Truth can bring it down.
We were told once, by virtue of our bondage, that we could never be American. But it was by virtue of our bondage that we became the most American of all.
Without the idealistic, strenuous, and patriotic efforts of Black Americans, our democracy today would look very different; in fact, our country might not be a democracy at all.
The 1619 Project documents the reality of the history of the United States through a collection of essays, poems, and short stories. This project is one of the most cohesive and eloquent collections of information on the true birth of the United States and its ideals; from 1619 when the first enslaved men and women set foot on what would be known as the United States to today when people are fighting for that very information to be hidden.
The United States of America is a myth. We know freedom isn’t free and we know the “American dream” is just propaganda. The 1619 Project is a plea for you to realize this, a plea to pay attention and consume Truth.
No one cherishes freedom more than those who have not had it.
Who lives up to the true potential of the United States? The founding enslavers that hypocritically preach freedom or the enslaved that believe in and fight for freedom?
Much of the information provided in The 1619 Project is not new. Much of it is obvious if you pay attention and open yourself (with the privilege of access) to an education. What The 1619 Project does is provide a cohesive whole that gives easy access to information that is vital but hard to find because it is so scattered. My opinions and principles have not changed, they have been reinforced. What The 1619 Project has changed for me is my ability to better argue for Truth because I now have a more firm foundation to uphold my knowledge.
If someone tells you not to read something, please read it as soon as you can. Don’t let them lie. Don’t let them manipulate. Listen to both sides of an argument. The 1619 Project provides the other side of the argument that has been purposefully omitted for hundreds of years.
The people that challenge books like this don’t do so because they believe them to be false. They do so because they believe the knowledge is dangerous for themselves—their power, their wealth, their politics. When someone is aware of the truth, they are then capable of refuting the lie. Ignorance is a foundation for manipulation. If ignorance benefits you, then you are the problem.
Why would a specific group of people fear easy access to education and books? Because knowledge destroys their base.
Those that seek to deny rights to others are not true Americans. Those that seek equality and access are representative of the true face of the United States of America. The true ideal that America was made to represent.
Black people have seen the worst of America, yet, somehow, we still believe in its best.
America has many faults: the plague that is capitalism, the imperialism, the poverty, the enslavement, the genocide, etc, etc, etc… But America represents an ideal that can be achieved by those that do not deny its history and it’s failings. Hypocrites preach from the highest perch. But Truth can bring it down.
We were told once, by virtue of our bondage, that we could never be American. But it was by virtue of our bondage that we became the most American of all.
October 26, 2021
Fake propaganda
June 28, 2022
I'm giving myself 30 minutes to write this review before I start my next tasks for work, because I finished this book last night and I can't stop thinking about it.
The controversy surrounding this collection is somewhat interesting to me. Nothing makes people want to read a book more than to tell them they SHOULDN'T read it. But... As someone who has been on something of a mission to educate myself on social issues, and more relevantly to this book, race, racism, white privilege, and the many ways that those concepts manifest in American society, this was always going to be a book I would want to read.
And I learned so much, despite the fact that much of it was repetitive (I'll come back to this in a sec) and despite the fact that I think there was quite a few things left out that could have been included, this was highly informative and, maybe more importantly, an excellent contextual narrative that shows how each decision, and policy, and practice, and attitude formed and influenced the next... leading us to where we are now.
Ibram X. Kendi's essay "Progress" was especially eye opening for me, because despite all of the reading I have done on this topic, I still bought into the fallacy that racial equality was inevitable, and that all the commentary saying "We've come so far, but we still have a ways to go" is a red herring. On a surface level, it's true. We have come very far, and there's still work to be done. But what Kendi argues in his essay is that this statement does two things - 1) it implies that life is much better now for Black people in this country, and 2) it defers the actual continuing and continual work of achieving racial equality to some mythical future when it will just... *poof* BE. It removes accountability for WORKING toward this goal, and just implies that, through the magic of inevitability, eventually things will be fair and just. We have to just be patient. (And by "we", the implication is that Black people need to just be patient. More patient, forever patient. Unendingly patient.)
This essay struck me strongly because I bought into the idea that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. And I WANT so much to believe that, but it's meaningless unless WE PUT IN THE WORK TO MAKE IT SO. And therein lies the problem. These statements are sort of nebulous future promises that imply that we can sit back and not worry about it, because the future will be better, regardless.
Edit to make sure that my meaning is crystal clear here: When I say "we need to put in the work" I mean white people. Black people have ALWAYS put in the work. White people have, historically, implied that the reluctant, truculent, resentful, often miniscule concessions to equal rights granted to Black people in the last 400+ years are enough, and they aren't. White people say it now to basically use it to avoid any responsibility for doing anything because we've already done "so much". We have not done nearly enough.
And now I'm down to 3 minutes on my timer. Dang it.
OK, this collection is wonderful and covers a massive amount of information spanning, obviously, hundreds of years of Black history and culture in the US. As the essays contained here were written by different people, some of them obviously overlapped, or touched on similar topics or events. Hence the repetition I mentioned earlier. But, while usually that sort of repetition is a negative for me, in this case, it really brought home how everything was linked and affected the whole tapestry of this history, right up to present day.
This is an incredible collection, and I highly recommend reading it, or, if you can, LISTEN to it. I listened to most of this while walking my neighborhood nightly, and I loved hearing these essays written by those who wrote them, and while they weren't all what I would call professional voice talent, it's worth it to hear their inflections and their voices telling these stories. Plus, there's more than a few poems mixed in, and listening to them was far preferable to me than reading them (my eyes just don't do verse - sorry literature!).
Speaking of poetry, the section on Music really brought home why poetry and spoken word is such an important part of Black culture, specifically how minstrelsy (the Jim Crow/blackface kind, not the medieval lute playing kind) was so problematic that it led to changes in Black performances, so as to be differentiated from the racist imitations.
There are so many eye-opening things like this in this collection. I really can't recommend it enough.
The controversy surrounding this collection is somewhat interesting to me. Nothing makes people want to read a book more than to tell them they SHOULDN'T read it. But... As someone who has been on something of a mission to educate myself on social issues, and more relevantly to this book, race, racism, white privilege, and the many ways that those concepts manifest in American society, this was always going to be a book I would want to read.
And I learned so much, despite the fact that much of it was repetitive (I'll come back to this in a sec) and despite the fact that I think there was quite a few things left out that could have been included, this was highly informative and, maybe more importantly, an excellent contextual narrative that shows how each decision, and policy, and practice, and attitude formed and influenced the next... leading us to where we are now.
Ibram X. Kendi's essay "Progress" was especially eye opening for me, because despite all of the reading I have done on this topic, I still bought into the fallacy that racial equality was inevitable, and that all the commentary saying "We've come so far, but we still have a ways to go" is a red herring. On a surface level, it's true. We have come very far, and there's still work to be done. But what Kendi argues in his essay is that this statement does two things - 1) it implies that life is much better now for Black people in this country, and 2) it defers the actual continuing and continual work of achieving racial equality to some mythical future when it will just... *poof* BE. It removes accountability for WORKING toward this goal, and just implies that, through the magic of inevitability, eventually things will be fair and just. We have to just be patient. (And by "we", the implication is that Black people need to just be patient. More patient, forever patient. Unendingly patient.)
This essay struck me strongly because I bought into the idea that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. And I WANT so much to believe that, but it's meaningless unless WE PUT IN THE WORK TO MAKE IT SO. And therein lies the problem. These statements are sort of nebulous future promises that imply that we can sit back and not worry about it, because the future will be better, regardless.
Edit to make sure that my meaning is crystal clear here: When I say "we need to put in the work" I mean white people. Black people have ALWAYS put in the work. White people have, historically, implied that the reluctant, truculent, resentful, often miniscule concessions to equal rights granted to Black people in the last 400+ years are enough, and they aren't. White people say it now to basically use it to avoid any responsibility for doing anything because we've already done "so much". We have not done nearly enough.
And now I'm down to 3 minutes on my timer. Dang it.
OK, this collection is wonderful and covers a massive amount of information spanning, obviously, hundreds of years of Black history and culture in the US. As the essays contained here were written by different people, some of them obviously overlapped, or touched on similar topics or events. Hence the repetition I mentioned earlier. But, while usually that sort of repetition is a negative for me, in this case, it really brought home how everything was linked and affected the whole tapestry of this history, right up to present day.
This is an incredible collection, and I highly recommend reading it, or, if you can, LISTEN to it. I listened to most of this while walking my neighborhood nightly, and I loved hearing these essays written by those who wrote them, and while they weren't all what I would call professional voice talent, it's worth it to hear their inflections and their voices telling these stories. Plus, there's more than a few poems mixed in, and listening to them was far preferable to me than reading them (my eyes just don't do verse - sorry literature!).
Speaking of poetry, the section on Music really brought home why poetry and spoken word is such an important part of Black culture, specifically how minstrelsy (the Jim Crow/blackface kind, not the medieval lute playing kind) was so problematic that it led to changes in Black performances, so as to be differentiated from the racist imitations.
There are so many eye-opening things like this in this collection. I really can't recommend it enough.
October 26, 2021
Do yourself a favor and skip this one
February 23, 2022
I graduated from High School in 2010 from a school in Upstate NY that did an excellent job teaching us about the history of African Americans in America. I learned correctly about the absolute brutality and down right evil that was inflicted upon those who were literally stolen from their homes and sold as property. I learned about the grueling middle passage as well as about the unrelenting labor they were forced to endure day in and day out with absolutely no regard to these men and women as image-bearers of God.
I also learned about the Underground Railroad and the brave abolitionists (both black and white) who took great risks to see men and women freed from their prisons. I still remember even from an elementary school age learning songs in music class such as ‘Follow the Drinking Gourd’ and their significance to our history.
With all of that being said, I appreciate being reminded once more of the atrocities of our past as a nation in this book… we must never forget or seek to diminish this great stain caused by sin and absolute depravity.
Why, then, would I offer only two stars for this work?
Because although it is littered with historical truths (and many that I was not aware of), I cannot get past the subjective commentary that seeks to further divide an already divided culture.
What’s just as surprising as what you do find in this work is what you don’t find… grace and forgiveness. Even the slightest admission to a white man’s involvement in the American journey toward African American freedom and civil rights is immediately walked back with three reasons why their help wasn’t really in good faith… really?
I read this book because I wanted to know why Republicans and the right were so against it. Although the words ‘critical theory’ don’t appear in this work, the tone is clearly one of ‘us’ (the oppressed) vs ‘them’ (the oppressors). It’s blatantly obvious that at least some of the authors of these works were heavily influenced by the works of Karl Marx.
Why is it so hard for us to see that no one wins if it’s oppressors vs the oppressed? What do we gain by the oppressed overcoming the oppressors only to in-turn become the oppressors in a new age of an endless cycle of turmoil?
There is another way to see this world: “… our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
There is a sickness in ALL of us that so many are trying to define. Some call it “systemic racism”, but I see ALL of our insistence to show partiality to one another; through race, sex, social status, income status, physical appearance, cognitive ability, ethnicity, etc, as a symptom of our deeper disease (James 2).
We all know that this world is truly broken in far more than one way. But do you know that the bill always comes due? Justice will be exacted for every egregious action and every careless word we have spoken regardless of our pigmentation.
The good news is that you and I don’t have to make our defense before The Judge without representation. But it’s our choice. Are we going to plead our case explaining how our good outnumbered our bad and hope He agrees? Or are we going to see, like so many before us, that the cost of that debt we add to daily is more than we can pay and put our trust in One who advocates for us on our behalf because of what He, alone, accomplished?
Read this book. You will learn something and hopefully you’ll walk in the shoes of some of these incredible Americans who overcame so much and at the end of the day were able to raise an American flag and be proud to live in this Country despite the evil overshadowing it’s past, like Nikole’s father.
But ask yourself if dehumanizing an entire group of people based on skin pigment is really the solution to the damage that has already been done by some who had… and some who do today blindly do the same. Is that really what we want to instill in our kids and in their kids? Is this really the answer?
I also learned about the Underground Railroad and the brave abolitionists (both black and white) who took great risks to see men and women freed from their prisons. I still remember even from an elementary school age learning songs in music class such as ‘Follow the Drinking Gourd’ and their significance to our history.
With all of that being said, I appreciate being reminded once more of the atrocities of our past as a nation in this book… we must never forget or seek to diminish this great stain caused by sin and absolute depravity.
Why, then, would I offer only two stars for this work?
Because although it is littered with historical truths (and many that I was not aware of), I cannot get past the subjective commentary that seeks to further divide an already divided culture.
What’s just as surprising as what you do find in this work is what you don’t find… grace and forgiveness. Even the slightest admission to a white man’s involvement in the American journey toward African American freedom and civil rights is immediately walked back with three reasons why their help wasn’t really in good faith… really?
I read this book because I wanted to know why Republicans and the right were so against it. Although the words ‘critical theory’ don’t appear in this work, the tone is clearly one of ‘us’ (the oppressed) vs ‘them’ (the oppressors). It’s blatantly obvious that at least some of the authors of these works were heavily influenced by the works of Karl Marx.
Why is it so hard for us to see that no one wins if it’s oppressors vs the oppressed? What do we gain by the oppressed overcoming the oppressors only to in-turn become the oppressors in a new age of an endless cycle of turmoil?
There is another way to see this world: “… our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
There is a sickness in ALL of us that so many are trying to define. Some call it “systemic racism”, but I see ALL of our insistence to show partiality to one another; through race, sex, social status, income status, physical appearance, cognitive ability, ethnicity, etc, as a symptom of our deeper disease (James 2).
We all know that this world is truly broken in far more than one way. But do you know that the bill always comes due? Justice will be exacted for every egregious action and every careless word we have spoken regardless of our pigmentation.
The good news is that you and I don’t have to make our defense before The Judge without representation. But it’s our choice. Are we going to plead our case explaining how our good outnumbered our bad and hope He agrees? Or are we going to see, like so many before us, that the cost of that debt we add to daily is more than we can pay and put our trust in One who advocates for us on our behalf because of what He, alone, accomplished?
Read this book. You will learn something and hopefully you’ll walk in the shoes of some of these incredible Americans who overcame so much and at the end of the day were able to raise an American flag and be proud to live in this Country despite the evil overshadowing it’s past, like Nikole’s father.
But ask yourself if dehumanizing an entire group of people based on skin pigment is really the solution to the damage that has already been done by some who had… and some who do today blindly do the same. Is that really what we want to instill in our kids and in their kids? Is this really the answer?
October 27, 2021
Selective view of history.
March 29, 2022
Anyone interested in American history should be interested in African American history, and scholarly thought over the past forty years or so has built a strong basis for the idea that what used to be called “the Negro problem” stands at the center of U.S. history, past and present. The nation’s prosperity, northern as much as southern, was built on uncompensated labor, mostly the labor of Black people, and slavery and its aftermath have driven much of the nation’s policy debates up to the present, in terms that limit our ability to achieve our national aspirations. This is a view no longer controversial or even fresh among historians, but it has not sunk into the public consciousness to any great extent.
The 1619 Project—both in its original form in the New York Times Magazine and in the expanded book form presented here—has done a lot to raise the profile of this idea, though a lot of the discussion it has sparked has been misleading, reductionist, or defensive. That’s a pity, because it’s a very well-reasoned and reasonable argument well supported by documentation. But like so many hot-button issues in the United States, it has not been well served by exposure to the popular consciousness, which magnifies cartoon versions of ideas and obsesses about details.
This book does make a laudable attempt to present a comprehensive survey of the ways slavery and post-slavery policies affecting Black people are central to our history, but in the present form The 1619 Project has its flaws. One of the flaws lies in its conception, as a team-produced effort of essays by multiple authors, punctuated by poems and short creative-writing pieces. Reading it reminded me of my early years in academic publishing, when every other volume seemed to be a festschrift—a collection of essays in honor of a senior scholar. Those books, like this one, included essays of uneven quality and so much repetition that they were painful to read as a single volume. Here, certain historical moments are described over and over again; this reader found them painful and traumatic enough on a single reading, and their lessons easily enough absorbed, without the recurrent pain of the third and fourth and fifth recounting. The intensity combined with repetition ultimately led me to read only about a chapter a day, which made the process somewhat more manageable. As for the poetry and creative-writing bits that led into each chapter, I felt they detracted from the didactic integrity of the work. Many of them were very well written and most very moving, so rather than eliminate them altogether I would have preferred to see them in a short companion volume partnered with the main one. But I’ve always been resistant to genre-mixing, so that might just be my personal bias.
There were some standout chapters I’d like to see every American read: “Capitalism,”“Punishment,” and “Progress” were especially enlightening for me, eloquent and persuasively argued. And Nikole Hannah-Jones’s pieces at the beginning and end establish the framework well. Someone coming to this subject for the first time, however, might prefer a book written by a single author, such as How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, even though a single volume can’t address as many aspects of the issue as this one does. Then progress to dipping into this book, and if you get really engaged, check the extensive endnotes in this volume for other titles focusing on particular subjects.
The 1619 Project—both in its original form in the New York Times Magazine and in the expanded book form presented here—has done a lot to raise the profile of this idea, though a lot of the discussion it has sparked has been misleading, reductionist, or defensive. That’s a pity, because it’s a very well-reasoned and reasonable argument well supported by documentation. But like so many hot-button issues in the United States, it has not been well served by exposure to the popular consciousness, which magnifies cartoon versions of ideas and obsesses about details.
This book does make a laudable attempt to present a comprehensive survey of the ways slavery and post-slavery policies affecting Black people are central to our history, but in the present form The 1619 Project has its flaws. One of the flaws lies in its conception, as a team-produced effort of essays by multiple authors, punctuated by poems and short creative-writing pieces. Reading it reminded me of my early years in academic publishing, when every other volume seemed to be a festschrift—a collection of essays in honor of a senior scholar. Those books, like this one, included essays of uneven quality and so much repetition that they were painful to read as a single volume. Here, certain historical moments are described over and over again; this reader found them painful and traumatic enough on a single reading, and their lessons easily enough absorbed, without the recurrent pain of the third and fourth and fifth recounting. The intensity combined with repetition ultimately led me to read only about a chapter a day, which made the process somewhat more manageable. As for the poetry and creative-writing bits that led into each chapter, I felt they detracted from the didactic integrity of the work. Many of them were very well written and most very moving, so rather than eliminate them altogether I would have preferred to see them in a short companion volume partnered with the main one. But I’ve always been resistant to genre-mixing, so that might just be my personal bias.
There were some standout chapters I’d like to see every American read: “Capitalism,”“Punishment,” and “Progress” were especially enlightening for me, eloquent and persuasively argued. And Nikole Hannah-Jones’s pieces at the beginning and end establish the framework well. Someone coming to this subject for the first time, however, might prefer a book written by a single author, such as How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, even though a single volume can’t address as many aspects of the issue as this one does. Then progress to dipping into this book, and if you get really engaged, check the extensive endnotes in this volume for other titles focusing on particular subjects.
May 29, 2023
(An 1872 portrait of African-Americans serving in Congress (from left): Hiram Revels, the first black man elected to the Senate; Benjamin S. Turner; Robert C. De Large; Josiah T. Walls; Jefferson H. Long; Joseph H. Rainy; and R. Brown Elliot)
"Our founding ideals of liberty and equality were false when they were written."
"I had been taught, in school, through cultural osmosis, that the flag wasn’t really ours, that our history as a people began with enslavement and that we had contributed little to this great nation."
"Anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country, as does the belief, so well articulated by Lincoln, that black people are the obstacle to national unity."
In the book
The book is well researched regarding facts and historical landmarks pertaining to the once opressed and enslaved black men and women since 1619. It is a reminder to Americans that some (noble) ideals took time to become reality for a section of the population. Very true.
But, framing Jefferson for being a hypocrite it is a hard stance, on Hannah's side. I don't believe so. Jefferson had life-contradictions. Sure. Who didn't have, at that time? (or now?) Lincoln had them too. That does not invalidate the noble ideals [namely that "all men are created equal"] ensconsed within the Declaration of Independence. Granted, he was an idealist. But his ideals were good: "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Who doesn't want those ideals to become true? Plainfully, some day?
Hannah's suggestion that year 1619 was even more important than 1776 is, for sure, another negative aspect of the book. 1619, when the first African slaves arrived to Virginia.
(Newsweek, February 24th 1997. I bought the issue)
The Project was polemic* in the USA, not only at the educational level, some seeing in it a way to teach Critical Race Theory in schools.
This sentence by Nikole Hannah-Jones seems problematic as well: "But the real goal of the project,..., is to get “white people to give up whiteness.” **
She believes in the "control of [collective] memory" via the teaching of History.
I think she should consider Asian-Americans in her analysis, as well. Maybe she'll arrive at different conclusions. I do recommend "An Inconvenient Minority" by Kenny Xu.
*https://historynewsnetwork.org/articl...
**In: https://www.heritage.org/american-fou...
UPDATE
https://www.newyorker.com/books/under...
UPDATE
https://medium.com/comrade-morlocks-j...
UPDATE
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...
February 17, 2022
For those who follow U.S. news and current events, "The 1619 Project" is likely familiar - the NYT journalistic effort organized by the claim that the start of the slave trade was the start and defining ethos of America. The controversies surrounding the project are likely familiar as well, including the volley of responses from lay and academic critics. My sympathies are definitively with those critics.
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story is a transparent revisionist attempt to do history as a variant of literary criticism - essentially an editorial review of the American Canon but of cultural myths instead of texts. Hannah-Jones and her colleagues aim to provide a "questioning" of hegemonic popular myths, such as America's inevitable social progress on race relations, the material bounty of liberal democratic capitalism, and whether America actually is a vaunted democracy. The authors generally argue that this teleological and optimistic view of America entrenches white dominance and black oppression, accounting for enduring disparities despite the legal defeat of all forms of institutional racism. They in turn assert America's original sins of slavery, institutional racism (i.e. Jim Crow), and racial hierarchy (i.e. wealth and health gaps) have not been sufficiently repented for nor has the role of Black Americans been properly recognized by the white majority.
I applaud The 1619 Project for their academic interest and ethical concerns about disparities and differences between groups, though I think the racial aspect is poorly defined in this work and generally by society, and I was happy to see that many of the authors are still somewhat committed to certain core American ideals. However, the project itself is riddled with fatal flaws. Primarily, it isn't history in any real sense of history as an actual scholastic discipline. The authors aren't deeply concerned with applying a scientific epistemology, comprehensively exploring the historical record and socioeconomic context without applying 21st century ethics, or participating in an open and level debate about interpretation and meaning of the salient takeaways from said historical record. The 1619 Project is a hodgepodge work largely of cultural criticism or sloppy economic analysis that draws on a particular perspective of American history, and it dogmatically insists that this is the only ethically correct perspective. Superior works on these same topics can easily be found - most mainstream, non-polemical scholarship, journalism, or popular books before "The Great Awokening" (circa 2014) will be more edifying.
There are also gallingly hypocritical (i.e. retributive justice for thee, restorative justice for me) and disastrously partisan elements in this collection that make the work hard to take seriously. Ultimately, the application of radical subjectivity so as to re-write cultural myths and then pass them off as legitimate history is destructive to pedagogical and scholastic ends. We should strenuously resist politicizing these institutions even if we think that such an effort is impossible or that the institutions are already politicized; political efforts should be labeled as such and subsequently shouldn't be foregrounded in the paper of record.
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story is a transparent revisionist attempt to do history as a variant of literary criticism - essentially an editorial review of the American Canon but of cultural myths instead of texts. Hannah-Jones and her colleagues aim to provide a "questioning" of hegemonic popular myths, such as America's inevitable social progress on race relations, the material bounty of liberal democratic capitalism, and whether America actually is a vaunted democracy. The authors generally argue that this teleological and optimistic view of America entrenches white dominance and black oppression, accounting for enduring disparities despite the legal defeat of all forms of institutional racism. They in turn assert America's original sins of slavery, institutional racism (i.e. Jim Crow), and racial hierarchy (i.e. wealth and health gaps) have not been sufficiently repented for nor has the role of Black Americans been properly recognized by the white majority.
I applaud The 1619 Project for their academic interest and ethical concerns about disparities and differences between groups, though I think the racial aspect is poorly defined in this work and generally by society, and I was happy to see that many of the authors are still somewhat committed to certain core American ideals. However, the project itself is riddled with fatal flaws. Primarily, it isn't history in any real sense of history as an actual scholastic discipline. The authors aren't deeply concerned with applying a scientific epistemology, comprehensively exploring the historical record and socioeconomic context without applying 21st century ethics, or participating in an open and level debate about interpretation and meaning of the salient takeaways from said historical record. The 1619 Project is a hodgepodge work largely of cultural criticism or sloppy economic analysis that draws on a particular perspective of American history, and it dogmatically insists that this is the only ethically correct perspective. Superior works on these same topics can easily be found - most mainstream, non-polemical scholarship, journalism, or popular books before "The Great Awokening" (circa 2014) will be more edifying.
There are also gallingly hypocritical (i.e. retributive justice for thee, restorative justice for me) and disastrously partisan elements in this collection that make the work hard to take seriously. Ultimately, the application of radical subjectivity so as to re-write cultural myths and then pass them off as legitimate history is destructive to pedagogical and scholastic ends. We should strenuously resist politicizing these institutions even if we think that such an effort is impossible or that the institutions are already politicized; political efforts should be labeled as such and subsequently shouldn't be foregrounded in the paper of record.
November 23, 2021
This book contains so much factually false information it should be classified as fiction. The author attacks US history through the lens of a racist and fails to present any real evidence to back up their conclusions. Waste of time, which I could get my money back.
August 29, 2023
Thought-provoking and informative.
May 8, 2023
a phenomenal body of work. read it for your own good (I recommend the audiobook!) and definitely to spite the white supremacists that don’t want you to.
thank you to libro.fm, the author, and the publisher for an alc of this book!
thank you to libro.fm, the author, and the publisher for an alc of this book!
March 22, 2022
Honestly, this book should be required reading in all US schools.
It is so incredibly well crafted, with a mix of factual articles and essays mixed in with poetry and flash fiction, all wrapped up in chronological order from when enslaved people first were brought against their will to this continent to the 2021 Insurrection at the US Capitol last year.
It spans over topics such as medical myths and mistreatment to how much chattel slavery has built the foundation of the US to mass incarceration.
Everything weaves together so well and it really opened my eyes to a lot that I didn't realize and its such an important tool on my anti-racism journey.
I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to continue to work on themselves on being a better ally to the Black community but also to anyone who maybe doesn't know where to start and is looking for a comprehensive book to cover a lot of undiluted history.
As an aside, the reason I picked this book up to read now was because the church we've been visiting had a 6 week zoom course over this book and the topics discussed within it. Each week had a different guest speaker from the Black community to talk about the topic of the week and to help educate those of us on the zoom calls and to really delve into these topics discussed in the book and the effects that they've had throughout the years. We listened to the 1619 podcast and read excerpts and extra articles and information along the way and reading this book and talking about these things with a group like that was really such an enhancement to my reading experience of this book. Sometimes we have to sit in the uncomfortable feelings and really reflect on them instead of pushing them away, and getting to talk about it with others was a good way to do that for me.
It is so incredibly well crafted, with a mix of factual articles and essays mixed in with poetry and flash fiction, all wrapped up in chronological order from when enslaved people first were brought against their will to this continent to the 2021 Insurrection at the US Capitol last year.
It spans over topics such as medical myths and mistreatment to how much chattel slavery has built the foundation of the US to mass incarceration.
Everything weaves together so well and it really opened my eyes to a lot that I didn't realize and its such an important tool on my anti-racism journey.
I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to continue to work on themselves on being a better ally to the Black community but also to anyone who maybe doesn't know where to start and is looking for a comprehensive book to cover a lot of undiluted history.
As an aside, the reason I picked this book up to read now was because the church we've been visiting had a 6 week zoom course over this book and the topics discussed within it. Each week had a different guest speaker from the Black community to talk about the topic of the week and to help educate those of us on the zoom calls and to really delve into these topics discussed in the book and the effects that they've had throughout the years. We listened to the 1619 podcast and read excerpts and extra articles and information along the way and reading this book and talking about these things with a group like that was really such an enhancement to my reading experience of this book. Sometimes we have to sit in the uncomfortable feelings and really reflect on them instead of pushing them away, and getting to talk about it with others was a good way to do that for me.
November 25, 2022
As expected, this book gave me a lot to think about. I don’t know how I overlooked the original 1619 Project in the New York Times magazine in 2019, but I'm glad I didn't miss this book. Kudos to Nikole Hannah-Jones and all the editors and contributors for putting together such a well-researched and thought-provoking analysis of the continuing harmful legacy of American chattel slavery. The book is a collection of eighteen essays, which are comprehensive in the topics covered and dense with historical information while exploring the legacy of slavery in America. The essays are interwoven with poems and works of fiction to highlight and illuminate key moments in history. The editing is impressive. Despite the numerous contributors, the book is decidedly cohesive and on-message rather than feeling like just a collection of a number of different voices.
I really appreciate that the last chapter shares the editor's opinion on a solution for correcting some of the damage done by slavery and moving America forward to a more equitable future. I enjoy reading books about complex societal problems in order to educate myself on the issues and understand what might be done differently to achieve a better outcome. However, I've read a lot of books that lay out the issues nicely but then stop short of sharing proposed solutions. I gain a lot of interesting (and often frustrating) knowledge, but I'm left with a feeling of "ok, now what?" Hannah-Jones did not leave me hanging, and I believe her thoughts in the final chapter are necessary for pushing the conversation forward. Rather than just closing out the book with a general "this is a hard problem to solve", she leaves the reader with a thought process that they are well-equipped for after reading the book: "Do I agree with her solution? Would it fix the issues of inequality addressed in the book? If not, why not? Are there any other solutions that might work?"
This is a well-written, comprehensive, and thoughtful presentation of a complex part of American history, and I can see myself revisiting this book many times in the future to review the information and conclusions. Highly recommended.
I really appreciate that the last chapter shares the editor's opinion on a solution for correcting some of the damage done by slavery and moving America forward to a more equitable future. I enjoy reading books about complex societal problems in order to educate myself on the issues and understand what might be done differently to achieve a better outcome. However, I've read a lot of books that lay out the issues nicely but then stop short of sharing proposed solutions. I gain a lot of interesting (and often frustrating) knowledge, but I'm left with a feeling of "ok, now what?" Hannah-Jones did not leave me hanging, and I believe her thoughts in the final chapter are necessary for pushing the conversation forward. Rather than just closing out the book with a general "this is a hard problem to solve", she leaves the reader with a thought process that they are well-equipped for after reading the book: "Do I agree with her solution? Would it fix the issues of inequality addressed in the book? If not, why not? Are there any other solutions that might work?"
This is a well-written, comprehensive, and thoughtful presentation of a complex part of American history, and I can see myself revisiting this book many times in the future to review the information and conclusions. Highly recommended.
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