The 1619 Project

Reading The 1619 Project revolutionized my concept of the “us” in “U.S.”.

Wherever you find yourself regarding what I shall call Black Lives Matter, 1619 is necessary reading. If you find yourself thoroughly infuriated, insulted, scared, robbed, and you are willing to ask yourself, "Why": you could move our country forward. If you find yourself the afore-mentioned, yet also nodding with enthusiasm and inspired beyond belief by the grace and depth of the art presented, it’s time to ask: what can I do today?

Since 1619—the year, not the book—Africans and African Americans have lived with and died by slave… show more.

This book is one of the best-written “Oral” American history books!

It makes me think of the times when we as a people sat down in front of griots. We were rooted in oral history, and this book teaches us how to learn and appreciate our history. It certainly is not another one of “Their History” books. The banning of this book, tells me that it is a written work of great importance. It makes people think and examine what they know and/or don’t know about history and their own lives.

This book helped me see that it is important… show more.

The 1619 Project fundamentally changed the study of American history by explaining and insisting that slavery and its consequences are at the heart of the nation’s origin story. A mix of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, this volume saturates its reader with a stunningly broad mix of approaches to hammer home the enduring legacies of slavery that go well beyond Emancipation.

This is the definitive book on racism in America. It provides the 400-year history of the ways in which we have exploited and undermined the well-being of black people. The book makes clear how slavery was central to the very development of the United States. Slavery was a critical component of the economic development of the nation. Throughout our history, disadvantaged white people have supported slavery and later forms of racist control of Black people and thereby maintained the power of the white elites. The book convinces me that we must get a significant portion of the white population to… show more.

You’ve probably heard a lot about this book—most of it coming from people who haven’t read it. The 1619 Project is not a condemnation of America. It’s a deeply patriotic history of how American values have been fought for through our history—by Americans, and also against Americans. Most of all it pulls back the curtain on the extent to which modern America even today is shaped by the legacy of slavery—something we all need to know.