The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

John Calhoun (1782-1850) was an American statesperson and political theorist from South Carolina. He began his career in 1810 when he was elected to the US House of Representatives. In 1817, Calhoun served as a Secretary of War under President James Monroe. He later served under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Calhoun worked to protect white enslavers’ interest and preserve slavery. He believed that slavery was a beneficial and moral institution, and he used white supremacy and capitalism to support these claims.

Calhoun developed ideologies in support of states’ rights and nullification, a topic that caused his relationship with Andrew Jackson to sour. Calhoun believed that states could ignore laws established by the federal government so long as they felt these laws were in violation of the Constitution. He clarified these ideas in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, or Calhoun’s Exposition, a document outlining the idea of nullification. Although Calhoun’s ideas never came to fruition during his lifetime, they served as a justification for the South’s secession prior to the Civil War. His defense of slavery and state’s rights leaves a complicated legacy. On June 24, 2020, a monument of Calhoun in Charleston, South Carolina, erected during the Jim Crow era, was removed.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African American orator, writer, and activist. Douglass was born into slavery in the 19th century in Maryland. When he was a child, he learned to read and write from his enslaver’s wife, who later refused him access to reading materials and lessons. In 1838, Douglass escaped to the North with his new bride. In his 1845 autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Douglass detailed his life as a slave and the harsh treatment he endured. Douglass was careful to conceal exactly how he escaped slavery so as to preserve the route for future fugitives.

Douglass moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, and began his career as a preacher and abolitionist. He eventually lectured across the globe, shedding light on the realities of American slavery and fighting for the freedom of Black Americans. He was a powerful speaker and had a compelling presence on stage. However, Douglass faced extreme adversity from white supremacists, who sought to silence Black voices. He wrote two more biographies, including My Bondage and My Freedom in 1855 and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass in 1881. Douglass is recognized as an influential figure in the abolition movement and is considered one of America’s great thinkers and activists.

George Floyd (1973-2020) was an African American man from Minneapolis, Minnesota. On May 25, 2020, a convenience store clerk called the police with the suspicion that Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill. When the police arrived, they forced Floyd to the ground. One of the police officers, Derek Chauvin, held Floyd down by placing his knees on Floyd’s neck and back—an act documented in video footage. Floyd told law enforcement he could not breathe, but they ignored him. After almost 10 minutes with Chauvin’s knee on his neck, Floyd died. A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Chauvin was found guilty on three charges of murder and manslaughter. Floyd’s murder served as a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which focuses on advocating for police accountability and reform.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American philosopher, lawyer, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Raised in a wealthy family in Virginia, Jefferson’s inheritance included the Monticello estate, a site that would serve as his home and as a labor camp for more than 600 enslaved Africans, including a Black woman named Sally Hemings, whom Jefferson kept as an enslaved sex worker. Jefferson attended the College of William & Mary in Virginia and studied a wide range of subjects. He began his political career in the House of Burgesses, where he served from 1769 to 1755, during which time he participated in enacting many of Virginia’s slave codes. Jefferson also authored Notes on the State of Virginia, published in 1785.

Jefferson appears repeatedly in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. Jefferson openly admitted that the hypocrisy of a nation founded on freedom while enslaving thousands of Africans would one day catch up to the country. However, he continued to enslave hundreds of people and helped to enshrine slavery into the Constitution.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1926) was an American preacher, orator, and civil rights activist. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, King attended church and followed in his father and grandfather’s footsteps by working as a minister. He attended Booker T. Washington High School and obtained a sociology degree from Morehouse College. He completed his theology degree at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. King is remembered for activism in racial equality and his commitment to nonviolent protest; he had a profound influence on the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

King gained national attention during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, a movement sparked by Rosa Parks’s arrest. He became a leading figure in the civil rights movement and founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1963, King led a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and famously delivered an impassioned speech titled “I Have a Dream,” in which he outlined a future for his country where racial inequality would no longer prevail. He was a dedicated activist who launched the Poor People’s Campaign in 1967. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. His work and advocacy continue to inspire movements for social justice and reform.

Emmett Till (1941-1955) was a 14-year-old boy whose murder became a rallying point for the Civil Rights Movement. While visiting family in Mississippi, Till interacted with a white woman at her family’s store. Later, the woman testified that Till solicited her for a date and grabbed her hand. Her husband, Roy Bryant, and his brother, John Milam, accosted Till in the middle of the night and kidnapped him. They beat Till, shot him, and dumped his body in a river.

Till’s body was found in the Tallahatchie River. Till’s death drew national attention, raising questions about the realities of segregation and violence in the American South. Till’s mother insisted that his body be displayed during his funeral, and tens of thousands of people came to see his mutilated form and pay their respects. Photographs of his body appeared in major publications, such as Jet magazine and Time. The men who killed Till were found not guilty by an all-white jury, with the defense making the case that Till’s body was so mangled that it could not be reasonably identified. In 2004, the US Department of Justice reopened Till’s case and used DNA evidence to confirm Till’s identity. In 2017, historian Timothy Tyson published a 2008 interview with Till’s accuser in which she redacted her early accusations against Till.