![]() The letter acquired four signatories-James McPherson, Gordon Wood, Victoria Bynum, and James Oakes, all leading scholars in their field. ![]() Several weeks ago, the Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, who had criticized the 1619 Project’s “cynicism” in a lecture in November, began quietly circulating a letter objecting to the project, and some of Hannah-Jones’s work in particular. The reaction to the project was not universally enthusiastic. ![]() The 1619 Project, named for the date of the first arrival of Africans on American soil, sought to place “the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” Viewed from the perspective of those historically denied the rights enumerated in America’s founding documents, the story of the country’s great men necessarily looks very different. history is often taught and popularly understood through the eyes of its great men, who are seen as either heroic or tragic figures in a global struggle for human freedom. ![]() “I know when I talk to people, they have said that they feel like they are understanding the architecture of their country in a way that they had not.” “They had not seen this type of demand for a print product of The New York Times, they said, since 2008, when people wanted copies of Obama's historic presidency edition,” Hannah-Jones told me. To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app. ![]()
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