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K-12 Dive
What's behind The 1619 Project controversy?
Naaz Modan
Feb. 12, 2021
Dive Brief:
Right-leaning lawmakers in at least five states — Iowa, South Dakota,
Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi — have introduced legislation that
would prohibit schools from teaching The 1619 Project or cut funding
from those that do. The ongoing long-form journalism project was
published by The New York Times in 2019 and explores the impact of
slavery and contributions of Black Americans to the formation and
growth of the United States.
While most of the bills are unlikely to advance — Mississippi's
legislation already is dead — Iowa this week advanced its proposal,
which says curriculum inspired by the project "attempts to deny or
obfuscate the fundamental principles upon which the United States was
founded."
Those supporting the project say attempts to ban curriculum based on it
are a form of censorship and prevent students from engaging in
important discussions.
Dive Insight:
The 1619 Project won a Pulitzer Prize in May. The brainchild of
journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, the project is described by The New
York Times as aiming "to reframe the country's history by placing the
consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the
very center of our national narrative."
"The central thesis of the project is that African Americans have
strengthened America by pushing the country to live up to its
democratic ideals," former social studies teacher Paula McAvoy wrote in
an email to K-12 Dive. McAvoy, an assistant professor at North Carolina
State University, researches teaching controversial issues.
The Pulitzer Center offered curricular resources based on the project
after its publication. It is also offering grants to 40 educators in
2021 to develop standards-aligned units meant to engage students with
the project or related content, among other things. Since The 1619
Project was published in August 2019, related curricular materials have
reached approximately 4,500 classrooms, according to the Pulitzer
Center's website, and at least five school systems adopted it
districtwide, including Chicago Public Schools and District of Columbia
Public Schools.
Efforts to curb the project's impact in classrooms reached the federal
level in the months leading up to former President Donald Trump's
departure from the White House. Trump said at a White House conference
in September that the project "rewrites American history to teach our
children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not
freedom." By contrast, Trump pushed for a 1776 Commission that
encouraged communities "reasserting control of how children receive
patriotic education in their schools."
While social studies curriculum has always been politically contested,
McAvoy said, The 1619 Project "challenges tenants commonly endorsed by
both parties, but particularly Republicans — American exceptionalism
and faith in the free market."
"I believe that some of the controversy comes in that many people see
this as a desire to totally rewrite American history. It is not," India
Meissel, former president of the National Council for the Social
Studies, wrote in an email to K-12 Dive. Meissel added while the
project is not the only resource being used to teach America's history,
it is "an important one" that incorporates in the curriculum
traditionally underrepresented Black voices.
Anton Schulzki, the president-elect of NCSS, said social studies
educators and their insights are often overlooked by "well-meaning, but
oftentimes ill-informed" lawmakers pushing what should be taught in
classrooms.
"The kerfuffle over the 1619 Project, in particular, is the latest
attempt to wade into what should be taught in schools. Rather than
allowing educators to make the best decisions for appropriate
curriculum materials, there seems to be a rush to judgment about one
set of resources," he wrote in an email to K-12 Dive.
Schulzki said "the vast majority" of social studies teachers use a
balanced approach in their classrooms, which provides for different
perspectives. "Indeed the hallmark of quality social studies education
is to examine a variety of sources and to teach students to read, write
and think critically about those sources," he added.
Read this and other stories at K-12 Dive
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