The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story will be published by One World Books on 11/16/19, offering a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present and a dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism.
In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.
The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. The book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.
This collection features essential fiction and nonfiction titles that focus on the work towards continued liberation, center African Americans in the story of American democracy, and examine the flawed power structure that has shaped our country since its founding day. To see the list
