Professors tweet about how they are using the '1619 Project' in class
Professors recently told Nikole Hannah-Jones how they have incorporated the '1619 Project' into their curriculum.
At least one educator replying to Hannah-Jones' tweet was a self-identified K-12 teacher.
Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted to college professors in December, asking them to share their syllabi with her if they use the 1619 Project in their classrooms.
Scholars from around the country have since left comments on Jones’ post about how they use or have previously used the ideas from her publication in their own classrooms.
College professors, are any of you teaching a course specifically on the 1619 Project? If so, would you DM and share your syllabus with me? I am very interested in paired texts, additional readings, course structure. Much gratitude.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) December 27, 2021
Hannah-Jones claims in her “1619 Project” that America’s history is centered around the arrival of the first slave ship in the colonies in 1619.
John Duffy, a University of Notre Dame Professor of English, was among the first to post a reply.
“I don’t know if you saw this,” he wrote, linking to a Washington Post article that is titled “Professor: Why I teach the much-debated 1619 Project – despite its flaws.”
I don’t know if you saw this (I did not choose the title):https://t.co/p8KdNjdvHX
— John Duffy (@jmduffynd1) December 27, 2021
Duffy is quoted in the article and wrote extensively about his support for Jones and why he uses her ideas in his classroom.
“Yet my reasons for teaching the 1619 Project are not entirely intellectual. They are equally visceral,” Duffy states. “Most of my students come to the class with sketchy notions of the realities of slavery.”
Middlesex Community College Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Paralegal Studies Program Director Halye Sugarman shared a tweet about her own classes.
“I teach paralegal studies and have begun to incorporate 1619 and would like to do more! Anyone who want to collaborate DM me,” she wrote.
I also looked here! I teach paralegal studies and have begun to incorporate 1619 and would like to do more! Anyone who want to collaborate DM me 😊
— Halye Sugarman (she/her) (@ProfSugarman) December 27, 2021
Illinois State University History Professor, Dr. Andrew Hartman, is teaching a graduate seminar about the 1619 project.
“Teaching a grad seminar this summer, geared for high school history teachers, that I call: “A Ruthless Critique of the American History Survey.” We will take the controversy over 1619/1776 as our starting point,” Hartman tweeted.
Teaching a grad seminar this summer, geared for high school history teachers, that I call: “A Ruthless Critique of the American History Survey.” We will take the controversy over 1619/1776 as our starting point. pic.twitter.com/ca2QfRdlD9
— Andrew Hartman (@HartmanAndrew) June 5, 2021
Hunter College Professor of Art History, Michael Lobel, has found a way to incorporate Jones’ ideas into his art courses.
He wrote, “Not a whole course specifically on the project, but I’m teaching a course on the African American presence in the graphic arts & will be covering 19th-century prints that reference the date 1619, including this @librarycongress chromolithograph.”
University of Pittsburgh Director of Undergraduate Studies and Senior Lecturer, Brock Bahler, tweeted: “I taught a Philosophy of Race & Religion in Spr 21 & would like to incorporate #1619Project into it next time. The intertwinement of colonialism, slavery & Jim Crow w/ Christianity in US history figured quite prominently.”
He included a screenshot of his syllabus which already includes readings such as Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility,” Richard Delgado’s “Hallmark Critical Race Theory Themes,” and Peggy McIntosh’s pamphlet called “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.”
Another University of Pittsburgh Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Health Equity, Dara D. Mendez, tweeted:
“Ive incorporate the readings into my Social Epi class over the past 2 fall semesters. Just got the book as Xmas gift :).”
Ive incorporate the readings into my Social Epi class over the past 2 fall semesters. Just got the book as Xmas gift :)
— Dara D. Mendez, PhD, MPH (@DrDaraDMendez) December 27, 2021
On Mendez’s school profile, she includes a personal statement about her teaching practices. “My research, teaching, curriculum development and service applies equity, anti-racism, anti-oppression praxis as well as Black Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory and Public Health Critical Race Praxis,” she wrote.
Sacramento State University English Professor, Susan Fanetti, joined in on the thread as well. She added that she doesn’t teach “a course specifically on it” but she does “teach it in [her] teaching English Language Arts course as an anchor text in a long unit on teaching Black lit, history, and culture.”
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East Central University Department Chair and Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies Christine Pappas developed her own course utilizing the 1619 Project.
“I developed a course called Racism in the US which I taught last spring and will teach again this spring. The 1619 Project (NYT Magazine) was the first thing we read. We also read ‘How to be Antiracist’ by @DrIbram and ‘Fire in Beulah’ by @RillaAskew about the Tulsa Race Massacre,” she wrote.
University of St. Thomas Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, Roxanne Prichard, tweeted that she includes Jones’ 1619 project podcast episode, “How the Bad Blood Started,” in her classes.
“I include the podcast ‘How the Bad Blood Started’ anytime I teach a unit on healthcare (e.g. In health psychology and brain and behavior). As a pre-health advisor, I also recommend this episode to all premed students,” Prichard tweeted.
The Pulitzer Center also offers a “listening guide“ for this episode.
Bard College Assistant Dean and Faculty in Leadership, Judy Pryor-Ramirez, taught the 1619 project in her sociology course.
“When I taught an intro sociology course, I paired the 1619 NYT magazine essays with our study of C. Wright Mills’ concept of the sociological imagination. I gave them the NYT essays as an in class reading assignment and they had to respond questions I framed using Mills’ concepts,” she posted.
Long Island University Professor of Education, Shaireen Rasheed, put in a tweet that she includes “the 1619 project in [her] doctoral course on critical issues of race.” She also used Jones’ work on a seminar that she taught on “Reparations in the U.S context.”
I include the 1619 project in my doctoral course on critical issues of race. I also use your work on a seminar I taught on “Reperations in the U.S context.” Will dm.
— Shaireen Rasheed (@srasheed17) December 28, 2021
University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor Holly Y McGee isn’t currently teaching a 1619 course, but she tried.
“I proposed a “1776 Commission vs. The 1619 Project” course to the education faculty @uofcincy (you know, the people who train K-12 instructors) more than a year ago. I’ve never heard back from anyone,” she wrote.
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Pennsylvania State University Director of the Richards Civil War Era Center and Associate Professor of History, Rachel Sheldon, tweeted to Jones saying that she sent her a DM with her syllabus.
Sheldon teaches “Constitutional History of the U.S. to 1877,” “Slavery in the Western Hemisphere,” and “U.S. Civil War Era.” Her recent publications include a piece for The Atlantic titled “Republicans Rediscover the Dangers of Selling Bunk to their Constituents.”
It was not only college professors who tweeted about their curriculum, however. K-12 educators apparently had opinions on the topic as well.
One user, “Bo Bliz,” tweeted “I am teaching it at high school level. If there was an online spot for these types of resources I’d love to get access to it.”
I am teaching it at high school level. If there was an online spot for these types of resources I’d love to get access to it
— Bo Bliz (@bo_bliz) December 28, 2021
Another commenter tweeted, “I haven’t taught it specifically yet, but I did feel fine hanging a flag that has only 48 stars and fills one classroom wall ASIDE my favorite quote from the 1619 project. Lessons abound.”
Campus Reform reached out to all parties involved in this article; it will be updated accordingly.
