The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
by Nikole Hannah-Jones
47 jurisdictions · Banned 2021-2025 · Published
The 1619 Project is Nikole Hannah-Jones's 2021 book-length expansion of her Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Magazine project arguing that American history should be understood with slavery at its center, banned or restricted in 47+ U.S. jurisdictions.
Why it was banned
The book has been the target of explicit state legislation in Florida, Texas, and Mississippi that names the 1619 Project directly as content prohibited from classrooms. Cited reasoning typically frames the book's historical argument as "divisive" rather than engaging with its primary sources.
Cited reasons
- alleged historical inaccuracy
- divisive content claim
Primary states
Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee
Why it matters
The 1619 Project began as a special issue of The New York Times Magazine on the four-hundredth anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in Virginia. The lead essay by Hannah-Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2020. The book-length version expands the original with new essays by Black historians and writers. State-level banning of a specific book by name is unusual; the 1619 Project is one of the few works to have inspired explicit legislative targeting.
Themes
- American history
- slavery
- founding myths
- journalism
Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (2020, original NYT version)
Where to buy
The Ledger recommends Black-owned booksellers. Each stocks this title or can order it.
- MahoganyBooksNational Harbor, Maryland · Founded
Independent bookstore specializing in books written for, by, and about people of the African diaspora.
- Marcus BooksOakland, California · Founded
The oldest independent Black-owned bookstore in the United States, named for political activist Marcus Garvey.
- Semicolon Bookstore and GalleryChicago, Illinois · Founded
Chicago's only Black woman-owned independent bookstore, with a mission to raise literacy rates among Chicago Public School students.
- Hakim's BookstorePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania · Founded
Philadelphia's oldest Black-owned bookstore, specializing in African American history, philosophy, and religion.
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Related banned books
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Documented by The Ledger. A record of what Black America built and what was taken.
Book cover via Open Library. Editorial use under fair use.