Nicole Hannah-Jones: Introduction
The 1619 Project is a major work by Nicole Hannah-Jones. In her introduction she describes how she was so taken with the date “1619” when she was 15 or 16. She had to research the date and why it mattered to her.
Nicole Hannah-Jones
She said that for her, Black people were mentioned as mostly inconsequential to the story she had of the history of the U.S. From the “brief time of slavery” to the time of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington was about 100 years. Yet the Black people were largely absent.
In her sophomore year in high school, she took a course that explained how the Black people were involved.
She began asking for extra books on the topic. When she began reading a book called “Before the Mayflower,” she came across the date 1619 and realized that the first inkling of slavery was from that date. It wasn’t when the people were still in Africa, but when they came to this country.
Editor and Creator of the Project
Nicole Hannah-Jones is the editor of the project. For this session of our time to discuss the chapters together we were assigned certain pages. The first chapter we read was a history of the question of citizenship. Although we have often defined citizenship coming from our parents, that is by no means the only definition.
In the 1830s there was a concerted effort by the Colored National Convention to define the meaning. For many years the convention had struggled with this. They were meeting in Rochester New York that year. Finally in 1853 Frederick Douglass took the stage. He published his newspapers, The North Star and Frederick Douglass’ Paper, in Rochester. His papers reached “the far corners of Black America.” They were a major influence in reporting the news of the day, including the news of the convention.
In that year, 1853, he was the chair of the Committee on the Declaration of Sentiments. He held that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution along with other political history, moral philosophy, and Christian theology all led the way to citizenship. He made clear that the goal of citizenship was valid.
Yet it was contested from all sides. It was not until 1868 when the phase “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” became law.
Still, three of the four states which had remained part of the Union, did not ratify it right away: Delaware in 1901, Maryland in 1959, and Kentucky in 1976! That’s my (former) state – Kentucky!
Punishment
We also had another section on Punishment from “The 1619 Project.” Think about these numbers: they are staggering! In the early 1970s our prisons and jails had less than 350,000 people. Today that number is 2.3 million. And that doesn’t include those on probation or parole, another 4.5 million.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
This is in a nation that prides itself on justice and equality!
Bryan Stevenson recounts the history of the acts that has led to so many Black people incarcerated. He says that basis is found among white people who are afraid of Blacks and fear retribution from Black people. He does not find evidence for this, but nevertheless it is an overriding fear.
He has taken on cases of Black people convicted of minor crimes, including some from many years ago. He has freed Matthew, held for more that 40 years. And he has aided many, many others.
He says, “The smog created by our history of racial injustice is suffocating and toxic.” He continues, “Today, in courtrooms across America, advocates and lawyers representing Black people cannot effectively assist many of their clients without recognizing that, contrary to the legal doctrine, those clients are presumed guilty.”
Bryan Stevenson says that we must fight – and fight hard – to repair the damage created by racial injustice in all its forms.
