A Trump-appointed commission for education reform attempted to counter the teachings of the New York Times’ 1619 project.
As one of his final actions in office, former President Donald Trump announced a change in the US history curriculum on January 18, the day on which the United States celebrated the life and work of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Called the 1776 Commission, the report aims to teach a more “patriotic” history of the United States by minimizing the horrors of slavery.
The Commission has been described as a direct rebuttal to the New York Times’s 1619 Project, which aims to put the horrendous institution of slavery at the very center of America’s historical narrative. Written by a group of conservative politicians and academics (though no historians), the 1776 report has been described by the White House as a “dispositive rebuttal of reckless ‘re-education’ attempts that seek to reframe American history around the idea that the United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one.” Trump himself has called 1619 “toxic propaganda.”
1776 has incurred a great deal of criticism from historians because of how it portrays racial injustices. Paul Johnson, professor of communication at the University of Pittsburgh said, “They [the writers of the 1776 Report] want to be able to tell the story as if racism is a thing of the past.” Ibram X. Kendi, humanities professor at Boston University and author of the bestselling book “How To Be An Antiracist,” has also critiqued the 1776, saying, “This report makes it seems as if […] since the civil rights movement, Black people have been given ‘privileges’ and ‘preferential treatment’ in nearly every sector of society, which is news to Black people.”
The report received widespread criticism from scholars and democratic politicians alike for the damage it could do to the teaching of racial relations throughout American history. Few have been more disapproving of the commission than President Joe Biden, who rescinded it on his first day in office. Despite this, conflicts over how to tell the history of the US will likely be ongoing. It is hard to overstate the importance of these arguments, as the future is always built on observation of the past. But for now, the effects 1776 could have had on future generations’ understanding of the US’s history will never be known, which many believe is for the best.
