These thoughts were written by our 2020 summer interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
As part of the Civitas 2020 Summer Internship, students were asked to read each essay in the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project and share some of their thoughts. Here is what they wrote for the first essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones.
MYLA: Nikole Hannah-Jones made me look at the Constitution from a different angle. Before reading this article, I had never realized that our right to property included enslaved black people. I was surprised when I read about how the colonists declared their independence from Britain to protect the institution of slavery. Throughout school, I was taught that the colonists left Britain because they refused to pay taxes to a government where they had no representation. Also, I find it very appalling that the colonists believed that they were slaves to Britain.
GABE: I think about flags more than the average person does. Why, I can’t quite explain. I’ve thought at length about why we fly certain banners and what it means to fly things the way we do. The opening paragraphs about Nikole Hannah-Jones’s father distinctly and deliberately flying the flag of a nation that “simply would not exist without [them]” (16) arrived as this mixture between the American Mythos and the history as it was, not as we wish it to be. The terrible and deliberate deconstruction of Reconstruction by American politicians had effects that are still being resolved. But carnage is not what defines a people. The response to carnage is. Hannah-Jones’s father saw that when he raised the flag. Despite being “told once, by virtue of [their] bondage, that [they] could never be American…it was by virtue of [their] bondage that [they] became the most American of all” (26).
MAGGIE: I did not know the significance of 1619 until reading the magazine’s introduction, a product of white washed history education. I ask myself why I never learned the names of those who were mentioned by Nikole Hannah-Jones – the African-Americans serving in Congress or Allen Brooks, who was lynched, or Isaac Woodard, who was beaten by the police in 1946 (“It was part of a wave of systemic violence deployed against black Americans,” which is precisely what we are seeing today still). I had to realize this history on my own, from reading this article, listening to friends, even traveling to Greenwood, MS, where the cotton fields still cover most of the town. I cannot fathom the fear Nikole’s family felt at the unnecessary hatred and lynching that went on. The unnecessary speaks to the innocent people, only targeted because of their race. Reading this reminded me of the protest sign I have seen many times in these recent weeks: the system was never broken; it was built this way. The system has never benefited Blacks, being constantly burdened by it, and whites benefit from this. How do they remain hopeful in the race of such oppression? I appreciate her raw account of 1619, providing readers with the history of slavery and America’s founding. In all, Blacks are just as part of America as anyone else, and while they built the country on their backs, the country’s system has not given them justice in return. “Democracy” continually changed at the hands of whites in power. Also, another important and timely quote includes “black rights struggles paved the way for every other rights struggle, including women’s and gay rights, immigrant and disability rights” (14), that should be more emphasized in our society. White America should be embarrassed and ashamed – about slavery, about Jim Crow, about the Dred Scott Decision, about Nazi Germany taking inspiration from the country, etc. These feelings should pressure and force the country to then change, reform, revolt.
SOPHIE: The redefining and re-situating of that quintessential American symbol, the flag, also helps to redefine American history. Nikole Hannah-Jones shifts American history from the whitewashed narrative taught throughout grade school and high school to a narrative that actually happened. Most of America, I believe, sees the flag and the history of America in a certain, unalterable light. What is taught, what the flag means to an individual is the end all be all of what that symbol and history can mean. But, as Hannah-Jones demonstrates redefining and relearning deepens the symbolic meaning and widens the perspective of history. It also flips the predominant and racist narrative on its head–Black Americans don’t have to work to “earn” a place in America or be “worthy” of the American flag. Instead, it is white Americans that have to unlearn and then relearn the history of America and work constantly on being anti-racist to be able to understand what that American flag actually means. Standing on false history only means you’re standing on shaky ground, but acknowledging that shaky ground and working to include more perspectives offers a chance at stabilization.
MARTRIANA: Despite living in a household of a proud advocate of black culture and teachings, my father, I was surprised by many of the things I have read, and greatly enjoyed it. However, I always had a hunch and knew that the motives of abolitionists and President Lincoln weren’t black and white; just because he was against slavery doesn’t mean that he thought black people were equal. I never knew that President Lincoln thought that the best course of action would be to just…drop us off at another country. That was very much news to me. I was also reminded of my own bias to other states in that I forgot that even seemingly more progressive states like California or Illinois also participated in segregation.:
STEPHANIE: Hannah-Jones’ analysis shifted my perception on patriotism. Like her, I struggled with the idea of loving in a country that hurts you. I didn’t see any way for historically oppressed groups to be patriotic. However, now I realize that blacks have every right to love this country and hang the flag. We literally built this country. From the white house, to being the backbone of every industry that allows America to claim the title ‘Greatest Nation on Earth.” I’m not sure if I can claim to be super patriotic at the moment but I will do more self-reflection and work to see the good aspects of our nation.
BELLA: I really liked this essay, as it included a lot of history that I didn’t know about because they don’t teach a ton of black history in school. I had always been taught that the founding fathers were people like Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, etc. and that they were slave owners (at least most of them were.) I had always been taught that it was the actions of these men that essentially made America what it became. I always knew that the United States was built on the backs of slaves, but it had never really occurred to me that without them, this country literally would not exist. Most of my history education has been centered around white people like myself, so I am definitely going to do more research and learning when it comes to realizing and appreciating the significant contributions of black people to our country, both throughout history and today.
EMILY: Hannah-Jones’ analysis of her changing connection to the American flag was beautiful and frankly – and ashamedly – something I had never really thought long about as a conflict for Black people in America. It was a new perspective for me and reminded me that as a white person, I need to continue to educate myself on the plights and internal conflicts that Black people in America deal with. I also never knew about Jefferson drafting that paragraph on blaming slavery on Britain or that Lincoln’s plan to send the newly freed slaves to another country. More things they never taught you in public high school and another reason why I need to relearn American history without the bias built into school curriculum.
ADDISON: Hannah-Jones’s essay was very, very interesting. Hannah-Jones does an excellent job of taking an angle that is disregarded in American history, and showing us the effects certain people and events had, while also uncovering every stone, and not leaving anyone’s actions or quotes out of the essay. One thing I think she does really well is emphasizing the importance of the reconstruction, going into some of the institutions and actions that helped fuel it. She also does a good job of explaining the struggles of the Great Nadir, showing that it wasn’t only the south, or it wasn’t only a specific state doing all these things, but it was America collectively, as a nation, doing these things.
CLAIRE SH.: I thought this essay brought up a lot of interesting anecdotes, for lack of a better word, regarding racial incidents towards Blacks that I had never learned about in history class, like those of Isaac Woodard and Allen Brooks. Hannah Jones also mentions a few mind blowing facts about Black Americans that surprised me. For example, she says that “today [Blacks] are the most likely of all racial groups to serve in the United States military” and “Black people suffered under slavery for 250 years; [yet] we have been legally ‘‘free’’ for just 50.”
CLAIRE S.: I appreciated the framing of this essay and the way the narrative was constructed. This wasn’t just a historical essay, but a work of art. This, to me, symbolized the idea that Black history isn’t all pain and suffering- although, a lot of it is- but that it is also joy, heritage, and pride. I loved the personal stories weaved throughout the work. Also, this inspired me to learn more about Reconstruction, and particularly Reconstruction through a Black lens. I want to understand how Black people were able to make it to Congress, etc. I want to understand how to capitalize off the momentums of change.
RILEY: Hannah-Jones essay felt like something that will be a required read in future AP language classes. Which is not a bad thing. I am more a negative reader when I read an argumentative piece, so I am constantly looking at the opposite side of every argument. However, this essay was something I found very compelling. It felt mostly like she deconstructed every honored person and quality in America to make it feel like a real person. A country that people still loved, despite the flaws that turn a large amount of people off.
ETHAN: I found this essay very interesting. I had always thought that en-slavers always thought of African-Americans as “less than human.” I didn’t realize that the mindset of inferiority in white people didn’t cause slavery, slavery caused the mindset. I also didn’t realize how much poor southern whites benefited from Reconstruction. In US History, we learned about what Reconstruction did for African-Americans, and then how all of that was taken away. In reality, it was only taken away from those it was created to help.
VALERIE: I find her ultimate conclusion rather bizarre. She spends much of the essay talking about how racism is ingrained in American society, yet finishes it off expressing a strong sense of nationalism. Ultimately, rather than actually confront racism, I feel that the essay dismisses it as something in the past, and buys fully into the same American nationalism that has reinforced it for so long. And of course there are the facts that she got blatantly wrong, such as 1619 being the beginning of slavery in the US, when Native Americans had already been used as slaves for decades, and the erasure of the history and oppression of non black racial minorities in the US. Rather than actually criticize American culture and the racism embedded in it, it actually ends up promoting it.
