Given the controversial nature of Hannah-Jones' claims about the role of slavery in U.S. history, it is not surprising that there was considerable pushback to The 1619 Project from political commentators, historians, and others. One of those who has endeavored to rebut Hannah-Jones' interpretation (or re-interpretation) of American history has been Mary Grabar. Grabar, who holds a Ph.D. in English, formerly taught at colleges and universities in Georgia and is currently a fellow at The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization in Clinton, New York (for more information on Grabar, see here). Grabar's book Debunking the 1619 Project: Exposing the Plan To Divide America was first published in 2021. In 2022, a second edition, containing an appendix addressing additional issues raised by The 1619 Project, was published. It is this second edition that I review here.
In her book, Grabar first examines the connection between The 1619 Project and the "1619 Riots" that occurred in 2020 in the U.S. following the death of George Floyd, an African American man in Minneapolis, Minnesota who died after being "held down in a knee restraint by a white police officer" (Grabar, p. 4). She then goes on to describe the launch of The 1619 Project and its aftermath. Most of the remainder of the book addresses a number of the most controversial aspects of The 1619 Project, including its denigration of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, its claim that the reason American colonists sought independence from Britain was to preserve the institution of slavery, and its assertion that American slavery was unlike anything that had existed before.
On the whole, Grabar does an excellent job of refuting the central claims of The 1619 Project. She does so by demonstrating in considerable detail how Hannah-Jones gets the history wrong or misleads her readers by leaving out certain details. An example of Hannah-Jones getting the history wrong involves a 1775 proclamation by Virginia's royal governor Lord Dunmore, promising freedom to those slaves who joined the British side. Hannah-Jones claims this proclamation was the impetus for some patriot leaders to seek independence from Britain. The problem, as Grabar notes in the appendix to her book (pp. 278-281), is that the movement towards independence began long before Dunmore's proclamation. The proclamation may have strengthened the resolve of some white Southerners to resist the British, but it clearly was not the main reason they sought independence given that they already had numerous complaints against the British government. An example of Hannah-Jones leaving out certain inconvenient details would be her portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. Hannah-Jones portrays Lincoln as a racist because at one point in his presidency he supported the idea of sending freed slaves out of the United States to colonize other countries. What Hannah-Jones doesn't mention is that Lincoln supported colonization because he feared that even after emancipation Blacks would not be treated as equal to whites in the United States. Moreover, even some African American leaders of the time supported the idea of colonization, so it is clear that support for colonization was not necessarily proof of racial prejudice.
However, while on the whole I was impressed with Grabar's book, I do have a few criticisms. For one thing, at one point of the book, Grabar suggests that Hannah-Jones developed a negative view of America's history due to her unhappiness growing up as a mixed-race child (Hannah-Jones' father was Black; her mother was white). Perhaps this is true, but I must confess that I tend to dislike authors trying to psychoanalyze the subjects of their books. How can we be really sure about what motivates another human being, especially one we do not know personally? It seems to me that we need to exercise some caution in attributing motives to others. Another problem for me is that Grabar seems to try a little too hard to paint a positive portrait of Thomas Jefferson. While I actually agree with Grabar that the widespread belief that Jefferson had an affair with his enslaved servant Sally Hemmings has yet to be (conclusively) proven, Jefferson, for all his gifts and accomplishments, was still a very complex man with some less-than-admirable qualities. Furthermore, while Jefferson may have genuinely wanted an end to slavery (which appears to be Grabar's position), it is hard to say that he wasn't more than a little hypocritical in allowing himself to benefit from the institution of slavery throughout his life. A final, more technical complaint I have concerns Grabar's use of quotations. While I appreciate the fact that Grabar tries very hard to avoid any hint of plagiarism, at times her use of quotation marks, even around very brief phrases, seems excessive. However, to be fair, this is a minor quibble.
In short, despite a few shortcomings, Grabar's book is well worth reading for anyone interested in the controversary over the role of slavery in U.S. history and its continuing significance in modern American society.
In closing, I would like mention one passage in Grabar's book that seems especially relevant in light of this blog's emphasis on matters relating to the Christian faith. In the last chapter of her book, the author notes that some Africans feel guilt over the history of slavery in America. This is because not a few Africans, in addition, of course, to numerous Europeans and Americans, were deeply involved in the transatlantic slave trade. In fact, it was usually Africans--not Europeans or Americans--who were responsible for the capture of their fellow Africans for sale into slavery. Perhaps this behavior should not be totally surprising given that slavery was common in many African societies at that time. Nevertheless, some modern-day Africans feel a sense of shame about the role of their ancestors in the slave trade, like Saidi Francis Chishimba, a Zambian pastor mentioned by Grabar in her book. According to Grabar, after "visiting the place of his forebears' origin in Zanzibar" and viewing a memorial at the site of what was once one of the largest slave markets in the world, he was "shocked...into silence" by the brutality of what had taken place there. Nevertheless, Grabar tells us, "he finds comfort in 'the grace of God'" (p. 241). This is certainly something all Christian believers--including myself--can learn from when struggling with feelings of guilt.
Image of Mary Grabar from The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization