Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones' "1619 Project" has become a topic of much debate. It starts with the bold claim that 1619 — the year the first enslaved Africans were brought to what would later become the United States — could be considered the origin of this country.
What You Need To Know
- “The 1619 Project” sparked debates among some historians after it was published. The following year, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for her introductory essay
- Republican lawmakers have pushed to ban "The 1619 Project” from classrooms and even former President Donald Trump weighed in, prompting an alternative curriculum proposal by conservative leaders
- “The 1619 Project" is currently number one on the New York Times bestseller list
- Hannah-Jones’ adaptation for children, called "Born on the Water" is topping the children’s bestseller list
At an LA Times book club event, LA Times executive editor Kevin Merida spoke with her about the project and how she expanded it into a recently released book.
Hannah-Jones believes history is taught in an unsophisticated way.
"We think slavery ended in 1865, and Black people just walk into freedom. But you have nothing; for 250 years, you're the only people not allowed to own properties, homes and even beds. And so Black people are just absolutely destitute."
As a journalist, Hannah-Jones said she has never seen a work of journalism that has been banned in multiple states.
"This project has been a part of political campaigns. "The 1619 Project" has been mentioned in both of Donald Trump's impeachment trials. So, it feels unprecedented."
"The 1619 Project" is a collection of essays along with photos, poems and short stories.
"Every single essay has been expanded significantly, and then we have new essays that go into different areas that we weren't able to talk about in their original project," Hannah-Jones said. "I do care deeply about the work, the research, my credibility as a journalist. When all of these people were trying to attack the project and especially that...couple of paragraphs about the American Revolution, I thought, they do not know me. I'll just read more, study more and sharpen. And now that section, which was a couple of paragraphs, is several pages long with lots of endnotes, and I don't back off it at all."
Hannah-Jones' Twitter handle is Ida B. Wells, in honor of the muckraking investigative reporter.
"The "slanderous and nasty-minded mulatress" is what The New York Times called Ida B. Wells when she was engaging in her anti-lynching campaign," Hannah-Jones added. To me, it just served as a reminder that Black women who challenge power, the Black women who try to excavate the way that this country racially harms Black Americans, get castigated, get disparaged. I have it there as a badge of honor because I just know I'm in a long lineage of Black women who tried to tell the truth and that people wanted to punish for that."
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