The 1619 Project

Information to consider before we allow Public Education to support this focus on our Countries History.

The 1619 Project.  Information which I gleaned from Wikipedia.

The 1619 Project is a controversial historical revisionism project developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones, writers from The New York Times, and The New York Times Magazine which "aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the United States' national narrative".^[1] The project was first published in The New York Times Magazine in August 2019 for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in England's Virginia colony.^[2] The project later included a broadsheet article, live events, and a podcast.^[3]

^{However the same Wikipedia article had this to publish about when enslaved Africans arriving in America:}

Background[edit]

The 1619 Project was launched in August 2019 to commemorate "the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved people arriving" in North America.^[17][18] However, the first enslaved African people arrived in North America in 1526.^[19] Slavery in North America extends to before the arrival of Europeans^[20] and European slavery in the New World is documented as far back as Columbus in 1494, possibly as early as 1493.^[21] In 1619, African slaves arrived in the Colony of Virginia. A ship carrying 20–30 people who had been enslaved by a joint African-Portuguese war^[22] on Ndongo in modern Angola, landed at Point Comfort in the colony of Virginia.^[17][23]

My Understanding of this 1619 Project:  I understand that facts and opinions may not always agree.  The timing of the launch of the 1619 Project for me is questionable when facts bear out that 1619 was not the first time enslaved Africans were brought to America.  The opinion/s of the 1619 author remain just that – opinions.

My additional comments:  It appears to me that we have some among us who choose to ignore why our Country was founded.  For me the Declaration of Independence makes it very clear.  Our Founders desired to start a New Nation that allowed all to have Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  Unfortunately the human condition of greed, which I call a sin, prevented many from enjoying our Freedoms.  Just as sin entered the Human Situation when the first couple ate the wrong apple and the first kids took envy to the point where one killed the other.  I am confident that everyone knows of these events.  No reason to change history here, yet we have that Author of the 1619 Project attempting to change facts as they have been recorded.  Opinions for the individual who develops them are valid for that individual only, unless others jump on the bandwagon.  However opinions should never be the basis of a national movement.

While it is a fact that the condition of slavery lasted longer than it should have, because it should have never been allowed to flourish at all; we must accept the fact that it did.  Why?  Because of the Human Condition which I discussed above – Greed or as I consider it “Sin!”

To appreciate the History of Education in our Country I know that it is essential that consideration be given to the events of 1927 when a Trial was held.  I know that Judges and Courts issue Opinions.  That is a fact, however I know that I and My anchestors as well as my own dear children and their offspring did not evolve from an ameobe swimming ashore on some beach many years ago.  

Here is what I gleaned from Wikipedia on that famous trial which also generated an opinion:

The Scopes Trial in 1927 – Religion versus Evolution

 

Until the late 19th century, creation was taught in nearly all schools in the United States, often from the position that the literal interpretation of the Bible is inerrant. With the widespread acceptance of the scientific theory of evolution in the 1860s after being first introduced in 1859, and developments in other fields such as geology and astronomy, public schools began to teach science that was reconciled with Christianity by most people, but considered by a number of early fundamentalists to be directly at odds with the Bible.

In the aftermath of World War I, the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy brought a surge of opposition to the idea of evolution, and following the campaigning of William Jennings Bryan several states introduced legislation prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Such legislation was considered and defeated in 1922 in Kentucky and South Carolina, in 1923 passed in Oklahoma, Florida, and notably in 1925 in Tennessee, as the Butler Act.^[1] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) offered to defend anyone who wanted to bring a test case against one of these laws.^[1] John T. Scopes accepted, and he started teaching his class evolution, in defiance of the Tennessee law. The resulting trial was widely publicized by H. L. Mencken among others, and is commonly referred to as the Scopes Trial.

Scopes was convicted; however, the widespread publicity galvanized proponents of evolution.

When the case was appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, the Court overturned the decision on a technicality (the judge had assessed the fine when the jury had been required to). Although it overturned the conviction, the Court decided that the law was not in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court held:

We are not able to see how the prohibition of teaching the theory that man has descended from a lower order of animals gives preference to any religious establishment or mode of worship. So far as we know there is no religious establishment or organized body that has its creed or confession of faith any article denying or affirming such a theory. — John Thomas Scopes v. The State 154 Tenn. 105, 289 S.W. 363 (1927)^[2]

The interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment up to that time was that Congress could not establish a particular religion as the State religion. Consequently, the Court held that the ban on the teaching of evolution did not violate the Establishment Clause, because it did not establish one religion as the "State religion." As a result of the holding, the teaching of evolution remained illegal in Tennessee, and continued campaigning succeeded in removing evolution from school textbooks throughout the United States.^[3][4][5]

 Conclusion of this Post:  Admittedly our Society which includes our Government and "We the People" have committed errors/greed/sin in the past and will continue to do so, however that understood we must focus on improving our Society with appreciating History and the founding Principles rather than relying on opinions which are generally known as the result of personal greed, or sin; or simply ignorning the facts.

As I have heard very often in recent days:  "We must focus on and seek Unity in our United States of America!"

Thank You!