The 1619 Project

Reframing the history of the United States of America by placing the consequences of slavery, as well as the contributions of Black Americans, at the center of our national narrative, the 1619 Project highlights how the legacy of slavery shapes different aspects of contemporary American life.

"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

"The reason The 1619 Project needed to exist in the first place is because we have not, as a nation, wanted to grapple with this issue. For those who believe in American exceptionalism, they saw The 1619 Project as a direct challenge to that. Telling histories this way — centering slavery, centering marginalized people — has always been contested. I think that is because it is very hard to buy into the notion of American exceptionalism and then deal with the history of Black people in this country." — author Nikole Hannah-Jones

(This review was originally posted in the wake of Tyre Nichols’s death at the hands of the Memphis Police.)

As our nation once again awaits the release of the latest snuff film of a black man’s death at the hands of the State, bracing itself for the inevitable outpouring of grief and anger that will follow, the 1619 Project speaks directly to our current society, contextualizing the systems of race and caste that we all live under now, and have always lived under. It reveals long-glossed-over truths about our nation’s founding and construction, as well as the fact that while emancipation may have ended slavery, the legacy of this inhumane brutalty still shapes us as a country today.

If you're not going to read the book, then you should at least take the time to sit your ass down on the couch and watch the series. You should at least set a little time aside and see for yourself exactly what it is about this book that terrifies White America so much. You should see for yourself what it is exactly that made nearly half the states in this supposedly “more perfect” Union try to ban this specific history book while blinded by their bigotry-driven "CRT" panic.

This 6 part documentary is currently streaming on Hulu.