Title: Lawmakers Push to Ban '1619 Project' From Schools
Headings: Lawmakers Push to Ban ‘1619 Project’ From Schools
Lawmakers Push to Ban ‘1619 Project’ From Schools
Social studies groups push back
History education should invite debate, not stifle it
Calls on lawmakers to focus on the pandemic
Sarah Schwartz

Content: History education should invite debate, not stifle it
Attempts to ban the materials “stem from a really unfortunate misreading of the project itself,” said Mark Schulte, the Pulitzer Center’s education director. The lessons aren’t designed to convince students to believe certain ideas, but rather to encourage them to question, he said: What would it mean to center the experience of Black Americans in our telling of U.S. history? What if we understood the beginning of slavery in this country as a foundational moment? “It’s deliberately provocative,” said Schulte. “ It’s the kind of thing teachers love, because it gets students thinking, it gets them debating.” This week, the center announced the launch of a new online network for educators using the materials. It’s important to teach students about the history of “struggle and contestation” in the United States, said Warren, the Atlanta teacher. She uses the 1619 Project curriculum to discuss the transatlantic slave trade and institutional slavery and to teach the importance of primary sources—especially those that shine a light on the experiences of Black people and other people of color. “Not having the capacity to bring this alive in my classroom would involve an erasure,” she said.