The Propaganda Files1619 Project Narrows Its Revolution-and-Slavery Claim
The 1619 Project's lead essay stated, without qualification, that protecting slavery was one of the primary reasons the colonists declared independence from Britain.
The unqualified claim served a progressive reinterpretation of the founding as centrally about preserving slavery.
What was reported
The 1619 Project's lead essay stated, without qualification, that protecting slavery was one of the primary reasons the colonists declared independence from Britain.
What actually happened
Prominent historians disputed the claim, and Leslie M. Harris, a historian the Times consulted during fact-checking, wrote publicly that she had warned the paper against it before publication. On March 11, 2020, New York Times Magazine editor Jake Silverstein published an update labeled a clarification, changing the passage to say protecting slavery motivated some of the colonists. The Times defended the project as a whole.
The proof
The Times' own March 2020 update rewrote the sentence, and its consulting historian said in Politico that she had flagged the error before publication.
The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:
1619 Project Narrows Its Revolution-and-Slavery Claim — Unproven. The Times' own March 2020 update rewrote the sentence, and its consulting historian said in Politico that she had flagged the error before publication. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/nyt-1619-project-revolution-slavery-update/
Original reporting
- The New York Times Magazine: The 1619 Project (Aug. 14, 2019)https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
Corrections, findings & records
- The New York Times: An Update to The 1619 Project (Mar. 11, 2020)https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/magazine/an-update-to-the-1619-project.html
- Politico: Leslie M. Harris, 'I Helped Fact-Check the 1619 Project. The Times Ignored Me.'https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/06/1619-project-new-york-times-mistake-122248
- iMediaEthics: NYTimes clarifies 1619 Project essayhttps://www.imediaethics.org/nytimes-clarifies-1619-project-essay/
Archived copies
Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.
- Archived copy: The New York Times Magazine: The 1619 Project (Aug. 14, 2019)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html