Creator of '1619 Project' Founds New School Program, and the One Thing She Refuses to Teach Is Telling
Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the New York Times’ infamous 1619 Project, which (falsely) asserts that the United States was founded on slavery, has accrued fame from her venture.
Now she’s taking her beliefs — ones strongly criticized by at least five prominent historians — to the world of education.
According to the Daily Caller, Hannah-Jones is setting up a privately funded school in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa.
The “1619 Freedom School,” as Hannah-Jones named it, is designed to “improve literacy skills and develop a love for reading through liberating instruction centered on Black American history,” according to the school’s website.
One thing the 1619 Freedom School will not teach, however, is critical race theory, which posits that “America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race,” according to the Daily Caller.
“We’re not teaching critical race theory,” Hannah-Jones told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, adding that she feels “completely unconcerned” regarding how other people feel about the endeavor.
Hannah-Jones elaborated on the school’s curriculum in an Aug. 31 tweet.
“Our curriculum, custom-designed by educators from Georgetown and the University of Missouri will be made available as free and open source for anyone who wants to teach it beginning in 2022,” she said.
“The 1619 Freedom School is not affiliated with the 1619 Project but its Black History literacy curriculum is particularly important now when states, including Iowa where it’s located, are trying to ban the teaching of histories that center that Black experience.”
Our curriculum, custom-designed by educators from Georgetown and the University of Missouri will be made available as free and open source for anyone who wants to teach it beginning in 2022.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 31, 2021
The 1619 Freedom School is not affiliated with the 1619 Project but its Black History literacy curriculum is particularly important now when states, including Iowa where it’s located, are trying to ban the teaching of histories that center that Black experience.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 31, 2021
Any project that Hannah-Jones is involved with will obviously result in at least some social-justice-warrior nonsense, but the intentional exclusion of critical race theory is noteworthy.
Perhaps Hannah-Jones learned a lesson after the 1619 Project turned into a quagmire panned by some historians. Then again, maybe the Pulitzer Prize she won for the venture has made her impervious to criticism.
However, her stance on teaching CRT also could be the result of a new law signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, which bans the instruction of “divisive concepts” such as when “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
Either way, any situation in which kids aren’t being exposed to outright propaganda is a good note.
I hope other lefties are paying attention. Clearly, the pushback against critical race theory is working. Why else would one of its foremost champions openly acknowledge it being kept out of her new school?
Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel for this mess after all.
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