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An American Citizen’s Guide to The 1619 Project with Dr. Richard Bell

An American Citizen’s Guide to The 1619 Project with Dr. Richard Bell


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Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after the seminar.

By now, it seems everyone has an opinion about The 1619 Project. Published in 2019, The 1619 Project was a special edition of The New York Times Magazine that tried to focus readers’ attention upon the centrality of race slavery in American history. Their formal mission statement reads as follows:
The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.
In this Conversation, historian Dr. Richard Bell will test four of The 1619 Project’s central claims against the evidence in the historical record. We will examine whether or not the preservation of slavery was a central motivation of the American Revolution. Our conversation will explore whether or not the 1787 Constitution enshrined the right to hold "property in man." Together we will investigate whether or not Black Americans had significant white allies in the antebellum freedom struggle. We will also study the multi-faceted character of Abraham Lincoln’s racial politics during the Civil War. 

While The 1619 Project has aroused controversy, this program will focus on the facts and the evidence, leaving participants well equipped to make up their own minds.

Dr. Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and has won more than a dozen teaching awards, including the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar Award. Professor Bell is author of the new book "Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home," which was shortlisted for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

Based on 16 reviews
94%
(15)
6%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
B
Barbara Kummerer (Oak Park, US)

Guest did not leave comment

K
Karen Thompson (Pacifica, US)
Excellent as usual

I always learn so much from Professor Bell and am highly entertained along the way

A
A. (Dallas, US)

Guest did not leave comment

S
S.K. (Oakland, US)
Enriching analysis of the 1619 Project’s opening essay

I applaud the bold argument the 1619 Project is making to center the significance and practice of racial slavery to the growth of the American project and the ongoing struggle for full democracy.

I applaud Professor Bell’s nuanced presentation of the Project’s scope and the controversies it has engendered. This is my fourth seminar and/ or course I have taken with him at the helm, and he is a fully engaging, witty, compassionate and learned teacher. Professor Bell enlivens his subject matter.

My key takeaway for this seminar is that one critical success of the Project is that it spark citizen’s and civic conversations. It’s content is too important to ignore, and I think Professor Bell’s seminar is one step in that direction, to encourage further engagement with and interrogation of the Project’s key learnings. Highly recommend!!

K
K.S. (London, GB)
Necessary

Guest did not leave comment

Customer Reviews

Based on 16 reviews
94%
(15)
6%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
B
Barbara Kummerer (Oak Park, US)

Guest did not leave comment

K
Karen Thompson (Pacifica, US)
Excellent as usual

I always learn so much from Professor Bell and am highly entertained along the way

A
A. (Dallas, US)

Guest did not leave comment

S
S.K. (Oakland, US)
Enriching analysis of the 1619 Project’s opening essay

I applaud the bold argument the 1619 Project is making to center the significance and practice of racial slavery to the growth of the American project and the ongoing struggle for full democracy.

I applaud Professor Bell’s nuanced presentation of the Project’s scope and the controversies it has engendered. This is my fourth seminar and/ or course I have taken with him at the helm, and he is a fully engaging, witty, compassionate and learned teacher. Professor Bell enlivens his subject matter.

My key takeaway for this seminar is that one critical success of the Project is that it spark citizen’s and civic conversations. It’s content is too important to ignore, and I think Professor Bell’s seminar is one step in that direction, to encourage further engagement with and interrogation of the Project’s key learnings. Highly recommend!!

K
K.S. (London, GB)
Necessary

Guest did not leave comment