LibGuides: Common Read 2020: The 1619 Project: Reception


Library Research Guides

Acclaim and debate

The 1619 Project has received acclaim and sparked debate. A sampling of responses:

The 1619 Project and the stories we tell about slavery
A review of The 1619 Project in The Columbia Journalism Review. By CJR staff writer Alexandria Neason.
The 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for her 1619 Project essay "Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true."
"The Thread." The New York Times Magazine, 29 Dec. 2019.
A letter from five historians critiquing The 1619 Project and the response from The New York Times Magazine editor in chief Jake Silverstein.
I Helped Fact-Check the 1619 Project. The Times Ignored Me. The paper’s series on slavery made avoidable mistakes. But the attacks from its critics are much more dangerous.
Article about criticism of The 1619 Project in Politico, March 6, 2020. By Leslie M. Harris, professor of history at Northwestern University.
The Fight Over the 1619 Project Is Not About the Facts A dispute between a small group of scholars and the authors of The New York Times Magazine’s issue on slavery represents a fundamental disagreement over the trajectory of American society.
Article about the dispute in the December 23, 2019 issue of The Atlantic. By staff writer Adam Serwer.