The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to slavery, physical and sexual abuse, and anti-Black racism.

Nikole Hannah-Jones (1976-) is an investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize–winning author. Hannah-Jones grew up in Iowa and attended a predominantly white school as part of a busing program in Waterloo. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1998. In 2003, she received a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media. During her early career, the writer covered issues of education in Raleigh’s News & Observer. In April 2015, Hannah-Jones began working on the staff of The New York Times.

In 2019, the journalist began working on The 1619 Project, a special issue of The New York Times Magazine centered on issues of racial injustice and the role of slavery in American history. The issue was highly publicized and sold out immediately. Hannah-Jones’s project expanded into a television series, podcast, and a book entitled The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.

Hannah-Jones has received many accolades for her work as a reporter. In 2008, the Institute for the Advanced Journalism Studies awarded Hannah-Jones a fellowship to study universal healthcare and education in Cuba.