Staff Editorial: The 1619 Project and Implications for Educators
The question first is, what is the 1619 Project? You may recognize it as the newly released documentary on Hulu or a history class topic, or perhaps you have seen the countless debates on educational policy which puts the project on par with critical race theory.
The concept began with Nikole Hannah-Jones, a NY Times investigative reporter who focused mainly on racial inequalities in education. Hannah-Jones went on to present her ideas to her colleagues—Jake Silverstein, one of the attendees, continued developing the ideas and then much later, with the support of the NYT Magazine team, the project expanded dramatically.
Jake Silverstein explained that the 1619 Project founded by Nikole Hannah-Jones was a “Project [that] made a bold claim, which remains the central idea of the book: that the moment in August 1619 when the first enslaved Africans arrived in the English colonies that would become the United States could, in a sense, be considered the country’s origin.”
With that claim, the book, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, continues to explore the concept of slavery being the origin of the United States, rather than “colonial settlement” or “founding fathers.” As a historical writing, the editors knew the divide the concept would cause, and within the book many footnotes have been included to clarify and reduce the inevitable backlash although continually adding to the narrative; for example, what are the implications of the 1619 Project? Why does it matter in a broader context?
Historical understandings can be viewed through several lenses, including political, economic, and environmental. Despite the controversy of the 1619 Project, it too can be viewed as too narrow in education. There is one lens which is more problematic in education with New York State Standards being so free to interpretations. The lens which has to be avoided in education is the one that places the savior complex upon nations conquering nations or groups conquering groups; this is one that many textbooks tell too often, even today.
The 1619 Projects adds another possible lens of educating, however, for future educators in certain states this is being denied along with critical race theory in policy making; but why? Some of the reasons include making students uncomfortable, indoctrinating students, teaching students to hate their country, etc. However, in the words of a professor in the Education Department, “It should make you uncomfortable.” Without that discomfort, there are no questions of why that discomfort exists.
According to Rob DeSantis, Governor of Florida’s policy includes, “Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E.) Act, a legislative proposal that will give businesses, employees, children and families tools to fight back against woke indoctrination. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act will be the strongest legislation of its kind in the nation and will take on both corporate wokeness and critical race theory. Today’s proposal builds on actions Governor DeSantis has already taken to ban critical race theory and the New York Times’ 1619 project in Florida’s schools.” Florida is joined by many other states including Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington and West Virginia, according to Fox News.
The 1619 Project is not one-sided perspective, but rather an exploratory view of another origin. While they in no way claim that they are the only view, the project’s originators are exploring a view that has few studies when it comes to race and how that past creates our modern-day topics. Overall, the discourse over teaching hard history has become one that leaves educators at the mercy of their district and their state; and, in a field in which there is a drastic shortage already, this support from districts is crucial in keeping teachers in the field. The love of teaching is no longer a sole reason for people staying, and as discourse continues to change on different topics of educators and who dictates what they teach or how they teach it, soon enough education itself will be a failing field because of all these restrictions.
Perhaps this will have people asking questions and demanding answers, as well as holding people and politicians accountable because of the “violence” that they are trying to protect students from—they seem to forget that students live in a day and age where school shootings and mass killings are seen on a daily basis. If the violence or discomfort was the only reason, then those other violent things would be more controlled.