And we’re ditching the NYT’s 1619 Project
President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence gave remarks at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C. yesterday to celebrate Constitution Day. During the president’s remarks he announced the creation of the 1776 Commission to promote patriotic education.
During his remarks, he discussed the New York Times‘ 1619 Project and critical race theory – saying we would not be teaching critical race theory in our government agencies any more nor the discredited 1619 Project.
For more info on the 1619 project, here’s some info from New Discourses on what the “1619 Project” is about which notes that the 1619 Project claims that the War of Independence was fought to “maintain slavery.” This is not something most historians agree on. Many historians have criticized the project and claim it is historically inaccurate. More on this following the excerpt below.
The 1619 Project is an effort produced by the New York Times Magazine, specifically by Nikole Hannah-Jones among several other contributors. It was published therein in August of 2019, allegedly on the 400th anniversary of the “true” founding of the United States, when the first African slaves (or laborers) were brought to American soil. It was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
The 1619 Project therefore posits that the true founding date of the American republic is not 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but rather 1619, allegedly when the first African slaves were brought to American soil at the Jamestown Colony. It goes further to posit that, because of this historical incident (supposing it is true and articulated accurately), the United States has always been a nation founded economically (see also, capitalism), thus politically (see also, liberalism), upon the institution of slavery, which was therefore encoded into the societal DNA of the American republic. That is, the 1619 Project exists to go beyond the claim that racism is America’s “Original Sin” to make the far more extraordinary claim (on very shaky evidence and weak argumentation) that it is, in fact, its genuine foundational principle.
Not content merely to make this claim, the 1619 Project insists that the American Revolution was fought primarily in the attempt to preserve American slavery against the will of the British, which it claims intended to end slavery sooner than the colonists would have it. These features, the project claims, have left indelible marks of systemic racism and white supremacy in the American nation at the level of law, institutions, economics, culture, and society that it has not and cannot get over without a fundamental remaking of the entire system itself (see also, revolution). That is, it is an attempt to cast the entire American Experiment as one built upon and for the purposes of the oppression and domination of blacks by whites through slavery and its systemic legacies (see also, liberalism, meritocracy, and post-traumatic slave syndrome). Helping to facilitate this aim, the 1619 Project is not merely limited to a series of articles in the New York Times Magazine but also includes a thoroughly designed K–12 educational curriculum being supported by the Pulitzer Center and rolled out in primary and secondary schools throughout the United States (see also, critical pedagogy).
New York Times Forced To Admit Fatal Flaw In 1619 Project
In an article from The Federalist David Marcus writes, “After months of criticism from historians all over the political spectrum, the New York Times is finally admitting a fatal flaw to their 1619 Project. A central essay in the project, written by Nikole Hannah-Jones, underwent a major correction this week. Only two words were changed, but they were big words. And given how much they change the underlying argument, the correction shows this project should not be used as a teaching tool in our schools.”
A central author in the project was by Nikole Hannah-Jones who in March of this year tweeted that she was amending her essay. She corrected her essay to note that “some of” the colonists’ main motivation for independence from England was slavery – a big change from implying all the colonists were motivated by maintaining slavery in their pursuit of independence from the crown.
Marcus notes that Hannah-Jones focus on slavery being “the” motivator for the colonists seeking independence from England is note the only error in her essay. Marcus writes, “Constitutional scholars have taken issue with the 1619 Project’s treatment of the creation of the Constitution. As recently as December, New York Times Editor in Chief Dean Baquet was defending the project in his pages against esteemed historians trying to tell him what the Times got wrong.”
The reason the above is important is that there has been a major push to put this curriculum in our public schools, despite any historians arguing that it is not factual. Many schools are already teaching “critical race theory” based on the NYT’s project. Marcus’ full article can be found here.
Via Wikipedia is proof of the project being injected into our school systems:
The Times plans to take the project to schools, with the 1619 Project Curriculum developed in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center.[24]Hundreds of thousands of extra copies of the magazine issue were printed for distribution to schools, museums and libraries.[11]
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting has made available free online lesson plans, is collecting further lesson plans from teachers, and helps arrange for speakers to visit classes.[25] The Center considers most of the lessons usable by all grades from elementary school through college.[26]
President Trump’s speech at the National Archives Museum.
