Most students are taught to think of the history and legacy of enslavement in the United States as unfortunate relics of a distant past. 

We have to ask as a society if we will confront it, or wish it away?

WHY THIS WORK MATTERS

Slavery existed in this country much longer than it has been abolished. America has arguably been a true democracy for fewer than 60 years–and threats to voting continue today. Yet most students are taught to think of the history and legacy of enslavement in the United States as unfortunate relics of a distant past. 

A 2018 survey of teachers by Teaching Hard History and the Southern Poverty Law Center found that students were severely lacking in even the most basic understandings about enslavement of Africans in what would become the United States. More than half of polled teachers found their textbooks inadequate and many felt ill-equipped to lead the conversation. And yet the many divisive cultural and political events that have taken place since 2018 make it clear that the past is still with us, its repercussions still deeply felt today. We have to ask as a society if we will confront it, or wish it away?

The 1619 Project Education Network was created to provide a structure for educators to bring the Project, from our partners at New York Times Magazine, and Pulitzer Center supported reporting related to Project themes into their classrooms in a way that nurtures their own teaching goals, and provides widely shareable curricular materials for thousands more to use.

The 1619 Project enables teachers to: 

• Help students understand what it means to share a national identity and a complex history 
• Hold space in the classroom for a diversity of cultural backgrounds and lived experiences 
• Cultivate understanding and empathy for the Black American experience 
• Invite all students to reflect on their own cultural identities and build empathy for one another 
• Empower students with conversations about hope, determination, education, and community