The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Argument Map”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the argumentative structure of The 1619 Project by creating a visual summary of the text’s key arguments.

The 1619 Project makes claims about the historical roots of oppression, its continuing impacts, and potential solutions. These claims are dispersed throughout many different essays, poems, and stories; in this activity, you will show that you can synthesize the various elements of these claims and present them in a unified visual format.

Create an argument “map” that uses text, images, and symbols to convey to your viewers how the key ideas in this text are related. Your audience should be able use your map to answer the following questions:

• What fundamental problem does The 1619 Project seek to redress? How does the text itself function as a solution to this problem? What evidence and arguments does the book offer as a part of its function as a solution to this problem?
• What larger problem does the text identify as potentially solvable once this first issue has been addressed? What potential solutions does the book advocate for? What evidence and arguments does it offer in support of these solutions?

After you finish, examine three of your peers’ maps. Rank these 1-3, with “1” being the most accurate and clear. Then answer the following questions:

1. What is your reasoning for these rankings?

2. If you include your own work in a 1-4 ranking, where would your map rank, and why?

Teaching Suggestion: This activity can be completed by individuals, partners, or small groups. You can also use it as a class-discussion activity, asking students to create a cooperative map of the book’s argument using a shared space such as a classroom whiteboard or an online tool like Popplet, Miro, or Scribble Together. (In this case, of course, you would want to eliminate the final ranking and reflecting section of the activity.)

Differentiation Suggestion: This activity requires a review of a substantial amount of text, which students with attentional, organizational, or reading fluency issues may struggle with. If your students will be completing this activity individually, you may wish to allow time for students to gather evidence as a class or in small groups. The visual format of the activity may be inaccessible to students with limited vision; an alternative would be to ask these students to respond in essay form.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The 1619 Project was a New York Times #1 bestseller.

• What editorial choices make this book appealing to a general audience? (topic sentence)
• Explain at least three different aspects of the book’s content, style, or structure that make it appealing to a general audience.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on the relationship between these editorial choices and the book’s primary purpose.

2. The 1619 Project mixes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

• How effective is this mixing of genres in accomplishing the book’s purpose? (topic sentence)
• Explain the book’s purpose; provide evidence to support your interpretation.
• Explain at least three examples to support your evaluation of the book’s effectiveness.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how excluding the poetry and fiction would alter the book’s impact on its audience.

3. Differing genres can affect an audience’s reception of similar key ideas. Choose a poem or a piece of fiction from the anthology that focuses on a similar idea to one of the book’s essays and use these as the basis for your response.

• How do the different genres affect the emotional impact of similar main ideas? (topic sentence)
• Explain at least three pieces of evidence that support your assessment.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on whether the emotional impact of these pieces is likely to affect the reader’s acceptance of their main ideas.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. The 1619 Project offers a new version of Black history. Choose one aspect of history covered in the book, and write a historiography contextualizing the book’s discussion of this aspect of history within the larger tradition of American history. Support your discussion with evidence from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material and any material gathered from outside sources.

2. A prominent idea in this text is that erasure is a tool used to reinforce power structures. How does the example of the White Lion introduce this idea? What further examples are given to support this idea? Is the book’s argument regarding erasure persuasive? Why or why not? Write an essay analyzing the effectiveness of the book’s arguments related to erasure. Support your analysis with evidence from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Hannah-Jones’s essays begin and end the text. How would you characterize her style? What mixture of ethos, pathos, and logos does she use? How would you describe her diction, syntax, and language? Write an essay analyzing Hannah-Jones’s style. Comment on the tone that her opening essay sets for the anthology and on how the style of her final essay impacts the audience’s sense of closure. Support your analysis with evidence from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which most accurately reflects the text’s primary position regarding Black history?

A) In a post-racial America, Black history is no different from American history.

B) American history can only be accurately understood through the lens of Black history.

C) Black history should be taught separately and in more depth than it currently is.

D) Educational institutions have a vested interest in erasing the truths of Black history.

2. Which is the dominant form of argument in the text’s essays?

A) Emotional argument supported by the writers’ life experiences

B) Ethical argument supported by the writers’ professional credentials

C) Logical argument supported by research and primary sources

D) Topical argument supported by current events

3. Which does the text primarily seek to challenge?

A) The American system of government

B) The American national narrative

C) The American educational system

D) The American economic system

4. What is the text’s central argument regarding the arrival of the White Lion?

A) It represents the true foundation of America.

B) It symbolizes the depth of American racism.

C) It prefigures the determination of Black Americans.

D) It ends the brief period of true freedom in America.

5. What relationship does the text propose between enslavement and aspects of contemporary culture like law, business, and politics?

A) Contemporary cultural institutions are polarized because of the nation’s division over enslavement.

B) Contemporary cultural institutions exist because of the wealth generated by enslaved people.

C) Contemporary cultural institutions deliberately create economic inequality between races.

D) Contemporary cultural institutions are guided by the same principles that supported enslavement.

6. What does the text credit Black American activists with?

A) Inspiring today’s environmental justice movement

B) Promoting social welfare as the purpose of government

C) Increasing freedom and opportunity for Americans in general

D) Inventing the principles of nonviolent resistance

7. Which does the text not suggest was made possible by enslavement?

A) Capitalism

B) Territorial expansion

C) The global financial industry

D) American culture

8. Which topic is discussed most often in the book’s essays?

A) Education

B) Healthcare

C) Religion

D) Economics

9. What does the text suggest as a primary means of promoting Black equality?

A) Prison reform

B) Anti-redlining laws

C) Affirmative action

D) Reparations

10. What does the text assert is the primary motivation for the brutal practices of American enslavement?

A) The racist belief that Black people are subhuman

B) The fear of intervention from the North

C) The intention to control Black people through fear

D) The desire to justify enslavement as an institution

11. Which contemporary institution does the text argue is effectively a continuation of the slave code?

A) The banking system

B) The prison system

C) The bicameral legislature

D) The two-party system

12. Which is not one of the claims the book makes about medicine and healthcare?

A) They overemphasize the impact of racism on Black Americans’ health.

B) Black Americans have lacked access in meaningful ways.

C) Black Americans are underrepresented in medical institutions.

D) They have objectified and dehumanized Black Americans.

13. Which does the text point to as a means of preventing marginalized groups from uniting?

A) Religious factionalization

B) Economic inequality

C) Racial hierarchies

D) Informal segregation

14. What point do the essays “Fear” and “Self-Defense” and the poem “Race Riot” all make?

A) Black activists’ legitimate grievances are often obscured by false perceptions of aggression.

B) Generational trauma explains more about violence in Black communities than does poverty or racism.

C) Historical experiences with violence are a continuing source of stress for Black Americans.

D) White Americans’ fear of Black Americans is often weaponized against Black Americans.

15. Which does the text point to as an example of Black Americans repurposing an aspect of White culture to contribute to their own resistance?

A) Music

B) The church

C) Sports

D) Higher education

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. What are the text’s primary critiques of the traditional telling of American history?

2. Why does the text argue that legal freedom for Black Americans is insufficient?