I read a tweet by Bernice King, youngest daughter of the late Martin Luther King, Jr. In her tweet, King referenced the #1619 Project organized by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times and how we should teach this curriculum in the home. And in so doing, we can single-handedly eradicate racism.
This tweet hit me personally for a couple of reasons. First, my husband and I home school our 5 children - we do for many reasons. One of those main reasons is that we wanted to teach our children an accurate history of our country and world. We wanted to move away from a strictly western view and incorporate global views in their knowledge. Last year, when the 1619 Project was published, I instantly researched it and cultivated it into a curriculum for my children.
The second reason this tweet struck me was the empowerment given to families and individuals to confront this disease of racism by directly teaching the truth. This is huge because I feel as a society, we wait for something to happen to force our hand, to redirect us on a path we already know we should be on. Teaching this curriculum gives us the power to make changes.
The 1619 Project is powerful, insightful, and honest. It offers America an insight not taught in public schools and very few universities and colleges. It is important to keep in mind, this perspective is one coming from the Black American. A perspective that has never had a voice in this society.
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