What Does Canceling the 1619 Project Mean for Future Educators?
By Dwayne Carson
On the 400th anniversary of American slavery, I was given a reminder of what happened in 1619. And no, it wasn’t reparations for slavery. I was given a copy of the 1619 project, a magazine that discusses the consequences of slavery and the contributions that Black Americans made in America. The project was important in my understanding of the harshness of the American capitalist structure. In the magazine, there’s an essay from Matthew Desmond that says, “To understand the brutality of American Capitalism, you have to start on the plantation.” The 1619 project presented complex societal issues that stem from slavery that I couldn’t learn anywhere else. And as an aspiring educator, I feel like it’s my responsibility to pass this information down to the next generation.
More than two years later, this award-winning magazine, podcast, and curriculum have made white lawmakers in the south more uncomfortable since losing the civil war. They have been so uneasy with the magazine’s content that they want to limit access in schools K-12 and public colleges.
Republican lawmakers in Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, and South Dakota have presented bills that, if passed, would cut funding to schools that use the award-winning magazine in their curriculum. Legislation in Arkansas and Mississippi says the 1619 project is racially divisive and says that it threatens this country’s integrity and principles. Iowa went even further by saying schools with any similar developed curriculum will be punished.
An educator in Arkansas was fired for speaking out against lawmakers in his state opposed to the 1619 project in curriculum. Educator Josh Depner sent a vulgar email to lawmakers; he says, “Dear Fascist White Supremacist” in the first line. He then goes in on the legislators by dropping a multitude of F-bombs and B words.
It was Depner’s unprofessional email that most likely lost him his job. However, based on his email, he was very passionate about highlighting marginalized people in his curriculum.
He said, “I WILL continue to teach about marginalized groups regardless of the outcome of your cute little Fascism project.”
Depner also emphasizes the point that teaching about social conflict and diversity does not promote division amongst races.
The 1619 project was not produced to divide races or promote race wars but instead to enlighten readers on the Black experience through American slavery. The only people who see the project as divisive are racist republicans who wish to keep America’s history whitewashed and comfortable for their children to learn. To keep the black race inferior, they suppress the historical excellence of the race. To be an educator is to free your students’ minds and allow your students to question society’s norms. Republicans enacting this bill against the 1619 project makes it harder for educators to fulfill their job requirements to their best ability. The award-winning piece was written by Nikole Hannah Jones also brings up a compelling case for reparations for slavery. By taking the magazine out of the masses’ view, Republicans can avoid the conversation of reparations for years to come.
I remembered in January 2020, Nikole Hannah Jones spoke at Morehouse. She was honored to bring her work to the illustrious Morehouse College, and I was honored to be in attendance. It was such an honor for me because the woman who produced work inspired me to enlighten the next generation of Black kids on their ancestor’s contributions to building the super country that is now America. An issue Jones speaks on that’s relevant today is what she says she’s most proud of. Jones said,
“I’m proud of the amount of opposition I’ve gotten to the project because what that tells me is people fear the knowledge in the project and shows me the ability for the project to be transformative about how we thought about black people and our country’s origins.”
Despite the uneasiness that the magazine introduces to White people, this magazine must be used in the curriculum to understand the Black experience in America. As an aspiring educator, I know firsthand just how important it is to educate Black children on their race’s greatness. Especially when there is little to no curriculum to show appreciation for them. The curriculum will bring uneasiness to parents and maybe some students in my future classroom. But, There’s no progress without stepping out of your comfort zone. So white lawmakers need to put themselves aside for the greater good of society to learn America’s true origins and create a more diverse education for children of color.