UC Irvine explores legacy of slavery with 1619 Project webinar series

UCI Humanities Center is presenting a series of webinars on last year’s New York Times Magazine series and podcast “The 1619 Project,” created by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, pictured here. The project marked the 400th anniversary of slavery in America with a series of stories about how that turning point has rippled throughout the history of African-Americans in the United States. (Photo by James Estrin/The New York Times)

By Theresa Walker | Orange County Register

PUBLISHED: October 7, 2020 at 4:44 p.m. | UPDATED: October 7, 2020 at 5:00 p.m.

The 1619 Project, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Magazine and podcast series on the legacy of slavery in the United States, will be the topic of a seven-part series presented by the UCI Humanities Center throughout the rest of October.

The hour-long virtual programs on Zoom are free and open to the public. Registration is required and limited to 1,000 participants.

The first webinar, “The 1619 Project and the Matter of Black Lives,” is Thursday, Oct. 8, at 5 p.m. and features UC Irvine faculty members from various departments at the university — African American studies, drama, history, law and political science.

The series concludes Oct. 29 with 1619 creator and lead author, Nikole Hannah-Jones, on hand. Hannah-Jones will be interviewed about the legacy of slavery and the current state of race by UCI law professor Mehrsa Baradaran, a co-author on “The 1619 Project” who also has written about the racial wealth gap in her book “The Color of Money.”

Judy Wu, director of UCI Humanities Center, called the center’s October series of webinars on The 1619 Project “an opportunity to learn together as a campus and a community, and will reveal how deeply race penetrates our society.” (Courtesy of UCI School of Humanities)
UCI Humanities Center is presenting a series of webinars on last year’s New York Times Magazine series and podcast “The 1619 Project,” which marked the 400th anniversary of slavery in America with a series of stories about how that turning point has rippled throughout the history of African-Americans in the United States. Seen here isa cover of the magazine that kicked off the project. (Photo by James Estrin/The New York Times)
UCI Humanities Center is presenting a series of webinars on last year’s New York Times Magazine series and podcast “The 1619 Project,” created by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, pictured here. The project marked the 400th anniversary of slavery in America with a series of stories about how that turning point has rippled throughout the history of African-Americans in the United States. (Photo by James Estrin/The New York Times)

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All but the last of the seven-part series will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A discussion.

Go to humanities.uci.edu/humanitiescenter/programs/1619.php for information on each of the seven webinars.

The 1619 Project earned Hannah-Jones the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. But she also has come under fire from critics, including a letter published last year in the New York Times Magazine from five historians, who wrote that they were “dismayed at some of the factual errors in the project.” Along with republication of that letter, a lengthy response from the magazine’s editor-in-chief thanked the letter writers for their criticism but found corrections they requested to be unwarranted.

More recently, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, introduced legislation in July that would prohibit use of federal funds to teach materials from The 1619 Project in public schools. In September, President Trump, in a tweet, threatened to withhold federal funds from California schools over any 1619 Project -related curriculum; he also announced the so-called 1776 Commission to promote “patriotic education.”

Here is the UCI series lineup on The 1619 Project, which also will be livestreamed on the UCI Humanities Center Facebook page:

Oct. 8, 5 p.m.: The 1619 Project and the Matter of Black Lives. Info and registration
Oct. 13, 4 p.m.: Designing the Narrative with Taylor Shaw and on Key. Info and registration
Oct. 15, 5 p.m.: Intersecting Realities: Health, Race, and the Ongoing Legacies of Slavery and Jim Crow. Info and registration
Oct. 19, 4 p.m.: The Black Liberation Movement & Radical Community Education. Info and registration
Oct. 22, 5 p.m.: Financial Legacies: Slavery and the History of Banking. Info and registration
Oct. 27, 4 p.m.: African American Music: The Sound of Freedom’s Journey. Info and registration
Oct. 29, 5 p.m.: Nikole Hannah-Jones, “Reflecting on the 1619 Project in 2020: The Long Legacy of Slavery and the Current State of Race.” Info and registration