This quote by Charles Dickens perfectly articulates my feelings regarding the duality of American history. America is a great country who has not always acted in the greatest of ways. The American ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are wonderful ideals enshrined in the Constitution, yet they didn’t always apply to everyone. America is considered the land of opportunity, but it hasn’t always been the land of equal opportunity. Both the positive and the negative aspects of our country make up our national identity, however in American public schools and history curriculum, one aspect has been glorified and uplifted to the neglect and dismissal of the other aspect. Without examination and acknowledgement of our national history and identity, we can never fully achieve the greatness we aspire to as a nation.
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful
What is the 1619 Project?
The 1619 Project is a series of essays by various New York Times writers that chronicles American history from the year 1619, when African slaves first landed in the American colonies, to present-day. Each of these essays speaks to specific time periods within American history—from slavery to the Great Nadir Period, Reconstruction to the Great Migration, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement to modern day.
In walking through American history through the lens of those first enslaved and later oppressed, these essays highlight how racism and discrimination were woven into the fabric of American society from its inception. Slavery and the resulting racism that ensued against African-Americans are identified within the pillars of society i.e. housing, healthcare, politics and legislation, economics, the criminal justice system, and education to name a few.
By the time someone reads these essays and explores other historical sources that corroborate the facts laid out within them, they can easily see how systemic racism has been embedded into American society.
Controversy Surrounding The 1619 Project
The 1619 Project has garnered both national attention and controversy. Donald Trump recently threatened to defund any school district that adopts the curriculum. Ben Shapiro and other conservatives have attacked the 1619 Project as historically inaccurate. Though as I said earlier, other historical websites corroborate much of the history recounted in the essays. Conservatives have also tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to tout The 1776 Project, a series of essays by black conservatives, as a response or rebuttal to The 1619 Project.
Senator Tom Cotton, recently came under fire for denouncing The 1619 Project and claiming that the Founding Fathers considered slavery a “necessary evil”.
I find it ironic that the detractors of The 1619 Project have denounced it as exclusive or inaccurate, yet have no issue with us embracing the traditional, one-sided (Eurocentric) historical narrative that most definitely omits much of any history that contradicts its agenda.
In spite of pushback from critics, Project Creator Nikole Hannah-Jones, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her introductory essay in The 1619 Project. She was also inducted into the 2020 class of fellows for the Society of American Historians. She has appeared on popular shows such as The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and is currently working with Oprah Winfrey adapt the 1619 Project into a TV and film project.
Much of the controversy surrounding The 1619 Project is due to the fact it doesn’t paint the rosy, often romanticized picture of American history that students across the country have been has been presented with in American education year after year. It shows some of the evils of capitalism as well as the inconsistencies that exist between the proclaimed American ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and American tradition. However, The Project also shows how with struggle there has been progress. It offers hope that through acknowledgement of the disparities that exist within American society, there can be progress towards a more perfect union.
Why is the 1619 Project important?
We are living in perilous times as a nation. There is racial unrest due to the continued discrimination against black people in public places and police brutality. These unfortunate events have opened the door to broader discussions of police reform and systemic racism.
One of the reasons these unjust situations continue to occur is because we as Americans are largely ignorant of our history. This is evidenced by many who say that slavery was a part of a distant past and that systemic racism doesn’t exist.
The majority of us received a sanitized version of American history that downplayed the legacy of slavery and failed to examine the evils inherent in a capitalist system. Even now, to point out any problems with capitalism is to be labeled a Marxist or Communist. Capitalism is by far a great economic system, but it is not above reproach.
No human economic system is perfect however, and the only way to improve upon or reform these systems is to identify flaws in hopes of correcting them.
The 1619 Project is important because it dares to offer a much-needed, more balanced view of American history. Yes, it chronicles the problems with American societal structures throughout history as it affects people of color, but it also details triumphs over these struggles. Many would denounce the essays as anti-America, but Nikole Hannah-Jones and her cadre of writers speak to why America and its ideals are still worth fighting for.
Examination of our history and the realization of its impacts on the present is the true beginning of progress. Soon enough, we will pass the torch to the next generation of political leaders, doctors, lawyers, judges, and business owners. We do them a disservice if we leave them in the dark about the past—especially if we want to empower them to become true change agents in American society. This is why I am so excited about using The 1619 Project in our homeschool.
Layout of The 1619 Project
The 1619 Project has been converted into a curriculum and has plenty of free resources available at the Pulitzer Center.
At the Pulitzer Center website you can download a pdf copy of the 1619 Project essays, a reading guide which features key terms, quotes, and guiding questions, as well as lesson plans. Additionally, there are engagement activities for students from essay prompts to photographs, a video introduction of the 1619 Project, and a host of other resources.
How I incorporated The 1619 Project into our Homeschool
My objective for utilizing The 1619 Project is for my two oldest daughters to study The 1619 Project independently, however I wanted to create a resource that would still be a guided lesson. I also wanted to receive their impressions and thoughts on what they learned throughout the study. For this reason, I created a Digital Interactive Notebook for the 1619 Project.
Google Classroom
To keep my daughters organized with their assignments and the various resources I wanted them to use in their study of The 1619 Project, I created a Google Classroom. Using the reading guide which divides the 1619 essays into sections, I divided my assignments based on the same divisions.
The 1619 Project Resources and Digital Interactive Notebook
My girls began each section by reading the key terms and guided questions within the Reading guide, reading the associated essay, and then doing additional research and answers in their Interactive Digital Notebooks. It is this additional research that was guided and presented various ways for them to capture what they learned and their reflections on the material. My daughters would go to other credible history websites I chose that spoke in greater depth to the Key Terms and Definitions listed for a particular section. They could record pertinent information in their notebooks, answer short answer questions, and were even able to watch relevant Youtube videos and record their thoughts—all within their Digital Notebook. Links to the various websites were placed on the sticky notes that accompanied each slide.
Below is a link to the first portion of the Digital Interactive Notebook I created as well as a video detailing how I created it.
Download your free copy of my Digital Interactive Notebook below:
View my Youtube video of how I created my Digital Interactive Notebook below:
The 1619 Project Podcast and Flipgrid
In addition to the written essays featured in The New York Times, The 1619 Project has a podcast that acts as a companion to the essays. I love that the podcasts facilitates some additional historical discussions such as the podcast on minstrelsy and the rise of Black music in America. I had my daughters listen to these podcasts, then record their thoughts on what they heard using Flipgrid, which is a visual recording resource for teachers and students. These various resources made for highly interactive and engaging lessons. I also loved how the podcasts and essays have acted as a catalyst to have deeper conversations with my daughters regarding race, our heritage, and many of the things they’re seeing in the news and on social media as of late.
The 1776 Project
In response to the 1619 Project, black conservatives put together a similar collection of essays called The 1776 Project. While this project has not been widely promoted by conservatives or the national media, I am open to my daughters also reading and reviewing this project as well.
Aside from that, I want my daughters to evaluate different perspectives for their merit, before settling on their own perspective. While we often come to the table with preconceived notions based on our prior knowledge, worldview, and perspectives, we must be willing to have our thinking challenged. We must also be willing to rethink our perspectives when presented with truth that goes against our original thinking.
In the Future...
Working through The 1619 Project has made us appreciate the importance of history and its impact on society. It has also shown me the perils of teaching a one-sided history to the neglect or omission of other experiences and perspectives.
I realize that I do not simply want to exchange a Eurocentric view of history with an Afrocentric view of history, but I want to instead study diverse experiences within American history .
While The 1619 Project has been eye-opening, and much needed, I would like to see a similar set of essays published regarding the experiences of other minority groups in this country to include Native Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Americans. With each unique perspective, I believe we will come closer to a more accurate version of American history.
For far too long, American history curriculum have placed the experiences of people of color on the fringes. I am hopeful that the 1619 project will lead to similar explorations in the future.
