The 1619 Project

93 pages • 3 hours read

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-9

Chapters 10-14

Chapters 15-18

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 5-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary: “‘Dispossession’ by Tiya Miles”

Chapter 5 explores the history of the relationship between Black Americans and Indigenous people. Miles opens the chapter with a discussion of the Treaty of Hopewell, a document signed shortly after the American Revolution. Following the war, Indigenous people were still populous; they were also angry as they watched white colonizers overtake and destroy their land. The treaty, which was formulated at the Hopewell Plantation, a site of slavery, placed the Cherokees under the protection of the American government, while also promising that the Cherokees could maintain a hold over their land—a promise, Miles notes, that has been repeatedly violated. Also included in this treaty was the agreement that the Cherokees would release any Black captives.

Using this treaty, Miles describes the complicated historical relationship between Indigenous and Black people in the United States. These two groups have both felt the weight of white oppression and violence: “African Americans and Native Americans share the highest incarceration and poverty rates in the country, as well as the lowest high school graduation numbers” (139). While Miles explores how colonists displaced and enacted violence against Indigenous people, she also asserts that their experience was vastly different from enslaved Black people. Indigenous people held the title of sovereign nations, which granted them access to freedoms that Black people could not enjoy. By participating in the institution of slavery, Indigenous people could elevate their status and wealth.

August 30, 1800

An enslaved blacksmith named Gabriel organizes a rebellion. However, he is discovered and killed.

“Trouble the Water” by Barry Jenkins

This work of historical fiction tells Gabriel’s story. After building an army of a thousand men, a storm kept Gabriel and his men from crossing the Brook Swamp. Governor James Monroe thwarted the army, and Gabriel was hanged on October 10, 1800.

January 1, 1808

A new act prohibits the importation of enslaved people to the United States. However, domestic trade continues to increase.

“Sold South” by Jesmyn Ward

This short story, told from the perspective of a collective “we,” describes the moment enslaved Black people learn of the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves. They describe what it felt like to be taken captive and to know that their families were likely also enslaved. When they arrived in New Orleans, they were put in pens like animals, raped, and conditioned.

Chapter 6 Summary: “‘Capitalism’ by Matthew Desmond”

Chapter 6 examines the relationship between American capitalism and slavery. At the start of the chapter, Desmond highlights how this connection continues to persist by drawing attention to a 2017 case of fraud involving Martin Shkreli, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Shkreli, who had raised the price of a lifesaving prescription medication from $13.50 to $750 a pill, justified his decision by referring to the American tradition of capitalism. Desmond states that the United States boasts more people of working-age in poverty than any other developed country, and the richest 1% of its citizens own 40% of the nation’s wealth. Desmond explains that the type of low-road capitalism used by Shkreli and others finds its roots in slavery.

As an example of capitalism’s roots in slavery, Desmond refers to the Three-Fifths Compromise. To appease Southern owners who worried that Northerners would gain power over them by sheer population numbers, the Articles of Confederation declared that enslaved Black persons could be counted as three-fifths of a person. Desmond notes, however, that this did not mean that Southern enslavers would be responsible for paying the taxes that went along with this decision. By focusing on import taxes only to, once again, assuage white Southerners, the United States placed itself in a difficult financial position. While countries like the United Kingdom and Germany benefited from income taxes, the United States failed to gain the capital needed to build infrastructure. Citing this history, Desmond claims that modern inequalities in tax systems find their roots in these unbalanced beginnings.

Because enslaved laborers were counted as private property, a series of protections were needed to maintain an already fragile institution. Although the Constitution did not explicitly name slavery, Desmond explains that Article I, Section 8; Article I, Section 9; and Article V, Section 2 were all developed to support slavery: “The framers helped create a doctrine of private property strong enough to justify and enforce human trafficking” (171).

Meanwhile, innovations like the cotton gin helped to construct modern management practices and to establish a tradition of supporting only the wealthiest businesses. As cotton prices dropped, those who had enough wealth to hold on to their stores until prices went up again flourished. Desmond states that this was echoed again in 2008 during The Great Recession when Black families and Black businesses faced economic crisis while major corporations made extreme profits. Emphasis on data, production, and yield on plantations created the framework for contemporary business practices. Furthermore, the racial divide was used to dismantle and divide labor movements, securing capitalism as a major force in America’s future.

July 27, 1816

A Black military base known as Negro Fort in Florida serves as a base for enslaved fugitives. In 1816, the federal government kills nearly all the men, women, and children staying at the base.

“Fort Mose” by Tyehimba Jess

In this poem, the speaker describes how Black fugitives escaped to Florida rather than pursuing freedom in the North. There, they forged a new culture of freedom, drawing from the lives and experiences of a diverse population: “Sovereignty soldiers, / Black refugees, / self-abolitionists, fighting / through America’s history, / marooned in a land / they made their own” (188).

July 2, 1822

Denmark Vesey is a free Black man in Charleston. Law enforcement burn Vesey alive for plotting a rebellion to burn the city and escape to Haiti.

“Before His Execution” by Tim Seibles

Told from Vesey’s perspective, this poem describes Vesey contemplating his actions a few minutes before his death. Vesey claims that he is paying the price for thinking too much and becoming too fixated on freedom. Still, he is not afraid to die. His only fear is the willful hatred and ignorance of the mob of white people in front of him. He wonders if God will forgive them.

Chapter 7 Summary: “‘Politics’ by Jamelle Bouie”

In this chapter, Bouie outlines a history of the relationship between politics and slavery—drawing first from a modern example. Bouie explains that former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is a repeat of that used by white Southerners to support the institution of slavery. Although he lost his election in 2020, Trump claimed that he had won based upon “legal votes.” Bouie details how a focus on “illegal votes” is essentially a reframing of a racist ideology about who constitutes a true American:

It was never about “populism” or “nationalism” or the interests of working Americans. It was never about restoring the country to any kind of “greatness.” It was always about the contours of our national community: who belongs and who doesn’t; who counts and who shouldn’t; who can wield power and who must be subject to it (197).

Bouie then notes that, as the South’s power weakened, a renewed focus on abolition worried Southern plantation owners John Caldwell Calhoun, an enslaver and House Representative in 1810, attempted to pursue “nullification”: the ideology holding that states had the right to ignore, or nullify, federal laws. While Calhoun’s efforts failed, after his death the idea of nullification emboldened Southern states to secede from the Union. Bouie returns again to modern politics, noting that, in 2008, a group of conservative activists who called themselves the Tea Party sought to restrict democracy through the same principle of nullification, hoping to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

September 20, 1830

Black leaders meet in Philadelphia for the first of a series of Colored Conventions. During this meeting, attendees discuss racial justice and citizenship.

“We as People” by Cornelius Eady

Despite their freedom, Black people in states like Ohio maintain the same status as animals. The speaker of this poem claims that Black people must stop waiting and fight for their citizenship.

September 18, 1850

The Fugitive Slave Act makes it illegal for free states to harbor fugitives from slavery. As a result, Black people—free and enslaved—are kidnapped and brought to the South. Harriet Hayden helps hundreds of people escape slavery via the Underground Railroad.

“A Letter to Harriet Hayden” by Lynn Nottage

In this fictional retelling, Harriet Hayden asks a preacher to write a letter for her to her friends. In the letter, she tells them that she must conceal her location as her white enslaver pursues her.

Chapter 8 Summary: “‘Citizenship’ by Martha S. Jones”

Jones explores the history of citizenship in the United States and argues that renewed focus on changing citizenship laws ignores a history of slavery and the reason for the codifying of natural born citizenship: “Citizenship is an old concept, with roots that stretch back to the ancient world. To be a citizen is to be an insider. It is to belong” (221). Jones states that Black people on American soil pursued questions of citizenship since their arrival. After the American Revolution, two free brothers in Massachusetts challenged a system requiring them to pay taxes but denying them the right to vote. Through organization, conventions, and advocacy, these groups informed future decisions about citizenship.

According to Jones, in 1857, the Dred Scott v. Sandford case brought to the Supreme Court by a man named Dred Scott changed the game. Scott argued that because he lived with his enslaver in a free state, then he should be granted freedom. The Supreme Court ruled that Scott had no right to sue, because he was not a citizen. Two justices, Benjamin Curtis and John McLean, dissented, their reasonings reflecting the work of Black advocacy groups. After Emancipation, white Southerners worked tirelessly to restrict the freedoms of Black citizens. The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified despite much contention and opposition from President Andrew Jackson, secured the rights of natural-born citizens.

January 1, 1863

President Abraham Lincoln travels across the country to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation, including a Black settlement in South Carolina called Camp Saxton.

“The Camp” by Darryl Pinckney

This short story describes the scene of Abraham Lincoln’s address to Camp Saxton. The crowd is moved to tears and breaks out in song.

July 30, 1866

A white mob attacks Black protesters who seek to challenge a new law denying Black citizens voting rights. The mob kills more than 35 people, an act that emboldens Republicans to gain control of Congress.

“An Absolute Massacre” by ZZ Packer

This story, told in the third person, follows Lazarus, a Black abolitionist attacked on July 30, 1866, by a white mob. He is taken to a hospital on a gurney with a dead body stacked on top of him. When he arrives, the men carrying him drop his gurney to the floor with a thud, and the body rolls away.

Chapter 9 Summary: “‘Self-Defense’ by Carol Anderson”

Chapter 9 opens with the story of Jessie Murray Jr., a Black man who visited a bar with his wife in Jonesboro, Georgia, in 2014. Murray, whose wife was white, was harassed by four men at the bar. Deciding he was not safe, Murray went to his car for his gun. He returned to the bar to find his wife and leave, but the men exited the building and began attacking Murray. The gun accidentally discharged, killing one of the men, a former police officer. Murray was found guilty of a weapons charge.

Anderson juxtaposes Murray’s story with that of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. In 2012, Florida citizen George Zimmerman began following Martin, a Black teenager who was walking through his neighborhood. Zimmerman called 911—something he had done many times—to report a suspicious person. The 911 operator warned Zimmerman to stop following Martin, but he persisted. Although Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, an unarmed teenager, the jury ruled that Zimmerman acted in self-defense.

Anderson states that, while the right to bear arms and defend oneself is enshrined in the Second Amendment, Black citizens have historically been denied this same right granted and used by white citizens. Anderson asserts that the Second Amendment was born out of the federal government’s attempts to assuage white Southerners by ensuring their ability to keep uprisings at bay.

March 16, 1870

Hiram Rhodes Revels is sworn in as the first Black member of Congress. He urges his fellow representatives to honor the 29 Black state representatives who were voted into office.

“Like to the Rushing of a Mighty Wind” by Tracy K. Smith

This found poem uses pieces of Hiram Rhodes Revels’s speech to construct a lyrical work of advocacy. The speaker calls for his listeners to acknowledge the experiences of enslaved Black Americans and to act with immediacy.

Chapters 5-9 Analysis

At the heart of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story is the idea that slavery and the American identity cannot be separated, that the ideology of what it means to be an American has been forged by and continues to be informed by a history of human trafficking and enslavement. To demonstrate this, each chapter highlights a different area of American life and traces how it has been affected by slavery. Chapter 5 discusses the unique and complicated historical relationship between Black Americans and Indigenous people. Miles emphasizes Slavery’s Pervasive Impact on American Institutions and argues that policies surrounding the dispossession of Indigenous groups are interwoven with American slavery. This is just one example of the wide-reaching effects of slavery and its infiltration of all parts of American history, and it further illustrates a key claim of the book that the white, colonial narrative of American history elides important details about the country’s history of violence and injustice.

This section of the book also focuses particularly on contemporary dynamics and institutions in order to elucidate their roots in American slavery and anti-Black racism. In Chapter 6, Desmond details America’s love of capitalism and its roots in slavery, arguing that contemporary issues surrounding inflated pharmaceutical prices and labor disputes find their roots in plantations. Furthermore, modern problems, such as the existence of the ultrawealthy top 1% and the failure of major corporations to pay federal taxes, reflect limitations that were originally established to appease white Southern enslavers. For example, after the invention of the cotton gin, production exploded—leading to inflation and a major price drop. Small farms were forced to sell, while major planters benefited from waiting for prices to increase again—now with less competition in the market. Similarly, in 2008, Black families suffered from The Great Recession while corporations benefited from the suffering of American citizens. Desmond’s arguments situate these facts not as isolated events but as part of an ongoing history of the oppression and marginalization of Black people. In this way, the chapter lends credence to a central claim of the book that anti-Black racism, slavery, and contemporary dynamics rooted in slavery are deeply embedded in American society.

Previous sections of the book outlined how slavery’s pervasive impact extended into the politics of early America, shaping the documents upon which the country is founded. In Chapter 7, Bouie deepens the book’s exploration of the historical roots of contemporary issues by bringing this influence into a modern context; Bouie does so through an exploration of President Donald Trump’s assertion that the 2020 election was stolen by illegitimate voting. Bouie argues that Trump’s claim was a racial one, noting that the cities that Trump suggests have participated widely in illegal voting held high populations of Black citizens. Bouie then draws a throughline to early American history as evidence of his claim about the historical roots of this rhetoric. Citing this data, Bouie argues that more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Trump adhered to arguments utilized by white Southerners to maintain a control of power, dividing citizens along racial lines as either “legitimate” or “illegitimate.” Hence, Bouie frames this contemporary event as simply a permutation of a racist mentality with deep roots in American history; in other words, Trump’s rhetoric is a key narrative in American politics since the colonies began.

Bouie’s argument manifests a broader approach of the book whereby the authors take up contemporary topics whose historical roots in racism and enslavement are “hidden,” which is to say that they are excluded from the historical record as presented through a white, colonial lens. By taking up these topics and in fact disclosing these historical roots, the text in effect brings this hidden history into the open.

As the authors in this section reveal the ways in which slavery informs institutions and modern-day politics and ideologies, they also emphasize Black Resistance as a Persistent Force Against Racial Injustice. Throughout the text, Hannah-Jones also includes short vignettes, highlighting notable moments in history and acts of Black resistance. She frequently notes that, at every turn, Black Americans have fought the racist systems that sought to oppress them. Before and after the Fugitive Slave Act gave Southern enslavers the right to kidnap Black citizens in the North, Black Americans like Harriet Hayden helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Black Americans identified their rights as natural-born citizens and pushed for a change to the American understanding of what it means to belong. In doing so, these activists ensured the protection of countless individuals who, whether here by force or willingly, lived on American soil. By documenting these historical instance of Black resistance, the book’s scope goes beyond accounting for the ways that white people have oppressed and done violence to Black people; it also explicitly champions the ways that Black people have historically fought back in the face of such violence and oppression.

Moreover, the book also explores the notion of Black resistance through its poetry. Cornelius Eady’s poem calls for Black Americans to take up the charge and fight for citizenship: “We as people / Have to stop waiting, / While the mobs sweep / The Cincinnati streets / Of Black skins, Black thought” (211). The sentiment of this poem, echoed elsewhere in the text, indicates that the authors are not only interested in documenting the history of Black resistance to racial injustice in the US. Instead, this sentiment clearly conveys the idea that Black people should take ownership of their identity as Americans in spite of the grave revelations in the book about the deep roots of slavery and racism in American society.

Finally, this section of the book also examines The Role of Black Americans in Shaping the National Identity. The book describes how Black activists are responsible for changing the perceptions and ideologies of American citizens, and how they played a role in conventions—like those in Philadelphia—that became birthplaces of some of the foundational ideologies that form the American identity: “The colored conventions met on the margins of American politics, but the thinking promoted there was echoed in the deliberations of some of the nation’s most elevated institutions” (229). The text supports this claim with evidence, such as the remarks made by Supreme Court Justices Benjamin Curtis and John McLean, who dissented from the court’s decision to deny Dred Scott the opportunity to sue his enslaver. Their language mirrored the discussions and ideologies developed at abolitionist conventions. This analysis of the role of Black activists in key historical events bolsters the idea Hannah-Jones articulates at the start of the text, namely, that Black Americans have played an influential role in shaping American society and identity.