Reprinted from November 25, December 2, 2021
Second of four parts
‘“The Times published the 1619 Project in August 2019; the lynching of George Floyd the following May amplified its reach during a global racial reckoning. Its influence fueled what Chris Jackson, the publisher of the new book version, calls ‘a fierce backlash and a vicious propaganda campaign.’
‘“Four months after Floyd’s murder, then-president Donald Trump called the 1619 Project the premier example of a narrative that ‘warped, distorted, and defiled the American story.’ He announced a 1776 Commission to combat it. Hannah-Jones has joked that the blow-back required more than a little good bourbon.
‘“By the time Trump attacked, the expanded book version, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (One World/Random House, November 16), was well under way. It weaves 19 essays exploring the legacy of slavery in contemporary America with 36 poems and short bursts of fiction. Each essay begins with a full-page photograph of an every-day African American.’”
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah Jones, editor, recently was examined in the Kirkus Reviews, which reviews books.
In part one, the purpose of the 1619 Project was explored, which started with with the first ship which arrived in the Britsh colony of Virginia in 1619 with a cargo of between 20 and 30 enslaved humans from Africa. The arrival was the beginning of human slavery which lasted until the end of the Civil War in the United States in 1865.
“The first shows a soldier in Germany in the 1960s standing beside his jeep. He is Milton Hannah.
“His daughter took questions over Zoom, an interview that coincided with Hannah-Jones’ first day in her new office at Howard University, where she teaches at the Center for Journalism and Democracy.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
“When Margot Lee Shetterly wrote Hidden Figures, she memorably said that ‘to tell a true story, we must tell a complete story.’ Is the 1619 Project working that vein?
‘“That is the goal to me. It’s not arguing that this is the only rendering of history, that this provides all the understanding you need. But it is directly challenging the narrative of this country that most of us receive, certainly challenging the narrative of American exceptionalism. Your understanding is shaped not by what you know, but as much by what you don’t know.”
Continued next week