Preface: “Origins” by Nikole Hannah-Jones

In the preface, Nikole Hannah-Jones outlines The1619 Project: A New Origin Story’s evolution by reflecting on her own formative experience as a young historian.

Growing up, she tells the reader, Black people were largely absent from the pages of her own history texts. When they did appear, they were treated as an adjunct to the white story—a population comprised not of actors with agency of their own, but of those to be “acted upon” by white people. Black history was presented as incidental to the bigger picture, sequestered from the overall curriculum. In her case, the only option available was a single-term elective. When she enrolled, Hannah-Jones found only other Black students seated beside her.

She found the course enlightening, encountering many rich Black texts the author had never heard of, but the course’s elective status effectively meant this material was taught only to Black students. It was in this course that Hannah-Jones and her classmates first learned the significance of the year 1619, which had been omitted entirely from the broader curriculum: in 1619, the first ship full of enslaved Africans, purchased by white Virginians, sailed across the Atlantic and docked on US shores. This omission, she recognized, was not an accident—it was an intentional choice designed to suppress Black history and uphold white supremacy.

This fundamental omission, she argues, has not been effectively addressed in the years since. The education system still fails to adequately address the truth of American slavery and Black subjugation, and the gaps in the curriculum that failed her as a teenager continue to fail Black Americans today. This lapse, she notes, is palpable far outside the Black community—a 2019 Washington Post poll found that two-thirds of Americans believe that modern society is still affected by the legacy of Slavery, despite an education system that neglects to adequately confront it.

It was this knowledge gap that led her to create the original iteration of the 1619 Project: a New York Times Magazine special issue from which this book would ultimately evolve. Published in mid-August for the 400-year anniversary, the issue brought nearly two dozen scholars together to painstakingly and unflinchingly trace the vestiges of slavery up through the modern day. On release day, demand for the magazine completely exceeded Hannah-Jones’s expectations. Many copies sold out instantly as a social media frenzy ensued, and educators across the country developed a curriculum to teach based on the publication. At the same time, the author notes, a small backlash was developing. In particular, critics were upset at the publication’s assertion that the American Revolution was in part motivated by a colonial interest in slavery.

This, the author reflects, highlights one of the major issues with history as it is commonly understood: while historians generally recognize “history” to mean society’s best understanding of the past—subject to reflection and reinterpretation and deliberation as new information is uncovered—those outside the discipline often assume it to be “settled.” Even with fastidious substantiation and research, the introduction of a narrative outside the “settled” one can be incendiary. In the case of the 1619 Project, this phenomenon led lawmakers in over a dozen states to attempt legislation to suppress the new curriculum. As of the date of publication, these suppression initiatives have been broadly unsuccessful.

In the two years between the New York Times Magazine publication and the completion of the full-length book, the racial inequities of modern American society have been at the forefront of the national dialogue. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others have underscored the long history of state...