The 1619 Project Myth: A Critique

“There is no one better to pick apart the disastrous 1619 Project than Phil Magness. If every classroom that incorporated the 1619 Project into its curriculum replaced it with this book, the country would be better off.” —Coleman Hughes

Slavery is part of America’s story—its greatest shame. But abolition is part of America’s story, too.

Ignoring the latter isn’t just bad scholarship.

It’s brazen deceit.

And more often than not, it’s done for political reasons.

But that didn’t seem to bother the writers at the New York Times when they launched the 1619 Project in August 2019. Advertised as a journalistic deep dive on the history of slavery, the series promised thematic explorations on a number of topics ranging from the first slave ship’s arrival in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to the present day.

Independent Institute Senior Fellow and David J. Theroux Chair Phillip W. Magness was intrigued. What he found, though, was something else entirely.

To say he was disappointed is putting it mildly.

The 1619 Project was riddled with partisan hysteria, sloppy “scholarship,” blatant errors of fact and interpretation, and, above all else, an anti-capitalist ideological agenda to make the case for tearing down our free market economy. Worse still, its transformation from intellectual debate to political dogma poisoned discourse on the right and the left. Angry Twitter mobs canceled and called for the censoring of all critics. Civil discourse and rational thinking became almost impossible.

Almost impossible.

Thankfully, The 1619 Project Myth boldly sounds the alarm on the New York Times’ outright ideological warfare against American history. It’s the essential guide to the many lies, distortions, and propaganda peddled by the 1619 Project and its defenders.

Magness’ writing is cool, calm, collected, and firm. An acclaimed academic and historian in his own right, he debunks and dismantles every myth and blunder of the 1619 Project, including:

• how the 1619 Project’s creator Nikole Hannah-Jones twisted history into shallow political propaganda (just in time for election season);
• why the Project’s activist defenders rely on sneering derision instead of historical facts;
• why capitalism is not racist … and, in fact, helped free the slaves;
• why reparations are a moral and logistical dead end;
• how the American Historical Association fumbled a chance to protect its institutional integrity and defend real scholarship;
• how Hannah-Jones responded to her critics by ignoring their corrections and making her message even more partisan, political, and anti-capitalist;
• and so much more…

In these pages, Magness delivers a long-overdue rebuke to “scholars” who treat history as a political weapon. History isn’t a tool for scoring points. It’s a long, complicated, and morally nuanced story that demands humility, intelligence, and moral courage from every scholar who dares plumb its depths.

This is a must-read book on slavery, freedom, and the true American story.

Phillip W. Magness is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and the David J. Theroux Chair in Political Economy. He has served as Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, and as Academic Program Director at the Institute for Humane Studies and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy in the School of Public Policy and Government at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. from George Mason University’s School of Public Policy.