Changing the Narrative, with Nikole Hannah-Jones

The 1619 Project was a career-defining moment for New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones. Released as a standalone issue of the Times Magazine in August 2019, the project sought to reframe the American narrative, linking our country’s founding to the arrival of the first enslaved Africans on the shores of Virginia.

When the project was initially released it was widely praised as a much-needed corrective to a white-washed version of American history. But there was also pushback from the likes of then-President Trump and Fox News. And some of that pushback was downright nasty.

This week, Penguin Random House is releasing the 1619 Project as a book, audiobook and children’s book. Into America’s Trymaine Lee is one of the book’s contributors. He and Nikole Hannah-Jones sat down to talk about the way the project has shaped America, how it’s shaped her, and the power of changing the narrative.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica. 

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening:

• UNC withholds tenure for “1619 Project” journalist after conservative backlash
• How Trump ignited the fight over critical race theory in schools
• Into America: Into Reparations with Nikole Hannah-Jones