Debunking the 1619 Project

Book review of:

Mary Grabar has authored a serious, mature book that should be in every American household and classroom.  Its message is so critical to understand that it might usefully serve as required reading in a test and qualification for American citizenship....

Ms. Grabar “debunks,” either directly or by implication, at least four primary objects:

• the asserted significance of the date 1619;
• the asserted unique culpability of Jefferson and other Founders in American slave-labor perpetuation;
• the assertion of unique colonial and early Republic promotion of slave markets and slave trading and;
• the asserted educational value of such historical revisionism that also rests on a modern policy narrative of unresolved racial discrimination and harm in legal and financial dimensions....

Ms. Grabar doesn’t merely "debunk” the 1619 Project, she devastates it, by a relentless, professional marshalling of facts and data, and with thoughtful argumentation, choice sourcing and careful footnotes.  For its depth in historical research, the book reads very smoothly. I found it a “page-turner” as the case she makes unfolds with surprise, pleasure and wisdom, concerning not only the facts of colonial slavery, but its larger context in American history, and indeed in a larger context still, of world history....

Mary Grabar’s book will help you understand the 1619 problem in its full flowering and encourage your appreciation of the traditions and reasons for standing tall and proud as an American, with an American mind; one that is aware of the full spectrum of its history, and its promise.