In August of 1619, a ship appeared on this horizon, near Point Comfort, a coastal port in the English colony of Virginia. It carried more than 20 enslaved Africans, who were sold to the colonists. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed. On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is finally time to tell our story truthfully.
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.
1619 and American History | The 1619 Project Book
Photograph by Dannielle Bowman
A re-education is necessary.
Correction: Sept. 4, 2019

An earlier version of the introduction to this project referred incorrectly to Virginia in the year 1619 as a British colony. At the time, it was an English colony.