My brain has a difficult time with longer-read pieces and collections on computer or tablet displays, so I haven’t yet been able to delve into The 1619 Project from The New York Times Magazine, but that’s no reason you shouldn’t get started.
On August of 1619, a ship appeared on this horizon, near Point Comfort, a coastal port in the British colony of Virginia. It carried more than 20 enslaved Africans, who were sold to the colonists. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed. On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is finally time to tell our story truthfully.
Conceived by Nikole Hannah-Jones, the project includes essays on the initial falsehood of America’s founding ideals, the links between the brutality of the plantation and capitalism, how racism scuttled universal health care, and more.
Me, I’m hoping that at some point the entire package will be made available for purchase for Kindle, although for the love of god please don’t put it in that PrintReplica format that doesn’t work on anything but tablets.
Addenda
- I do realize the print edition drops this Sunday, but that’s no good, either. It’s too large, too cumbersome, can’t fit in my pocket, et cetera. Just let me buy a Kindle edition at some point.