As an author, I write genre fiction as well as historical fiction. For one of my books, White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, I spend a lot of time and effort doing historical research. What I learned was that the first English colony to take root in America was Jamestown in 1607. Jamestown was an ENGLISH colony. It was not America. America was founded in 1776. When the ENGLISH colony of Jamestown was founded along the east coast of what would someday be known as the United States of America, slavery was prevalent all over the world. On August 20, 1619, 20 Africans, kidnapped by Portuguese slavers, arrive in the British colony of Virginia and are then bought by English colonists. Jamestown was still an English colony. It was not the United States of America. It was not 'America.' Period. And, it was the British, white people, who first outlawed slavery, first in the entire history of the world. America would follow. So to my mind, anyone buying into the whole 1619 project is buying into a lie. Period.
As an author, I write genre fiction as well as historical fiction. For one of my books, White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, I spend a lot of time and effort doing historical research. What I learned was that the first English colony to take root in America was Jamestown in 1607. Jamestown was an ENGLISH colony. It was not America. America was founded in 1776. When the ENGLISH colony of Jamestown was founded along the east coast of what would someday be known as the United States of America, slavery was prevalent all over the world. On August 20, 1619, 20 Africans, kidnapped by Portuguese slavers, arrive in the British colony of Virginia and are then bought by English colonists. Jamestown was still an English colony. It was not the United States of America. It was not 'America.' Period. And, it was the British, white people, who first outlawed slavery, first in the entire history of the world. America would follow. So to my mind, anyone buying into the whole 1619 project is buying into a lie. Period.
Thanks for the comment, Paul, but I think Nikole Hannah-Jones and the other contributors to the 1619 Project understand the point you've made.