Content Warning: The source material contains graphic descriptions of slavery, physical and sexual abuse, sexual assault, and murder. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story also covers historical resources that may use outdated or racist language. This guide reproduces this language only when using direct quotations.

“The history rendered Black Americans, Black people on all the earth, inconsequential at best, invisible at worst.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work is an attempt to counter the invisibility that has been thrust on Black Americans by a colonial understanding of the nation’s history. She argues that traditional understandings of history ignore the contributions of Black people and perpetuate a false ideal of the American identity.

“But while history is what happened, it is also, just as important, how we think about what happened and what we unearth and choose to remember about what happened.”

This statement is reflected throughout the work as the authors connect contemporary issues and events with historical points of reference. Rather than focusing merely on the facts, Hannah-Jones and the other authors in the text seek answers to the motivations and ideologies of American citizens in addition to their actions.

“No one cherishes freedom more than those who have not had it. And to this day, Black Americans, more than any other group, embrace the democratic ideals of a common good.”

Hannah-Jones argues that it is time to pay attention to The Role of Black Americans in Shaping the National Identity. While facing profound discrimination and violence, Black Americans developed and fought for an ideology of freedom that has become a vital part of the understanding of what it means to be an American.