I sincerely hope that our county and our state do not get suckered into teaching the 1619 History hoax. This is a program devised by the New York Times to be used in schools to teach our kids that Americans are racist to the core. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The program is meant to get white children to be ashamed of their skin color and their attitudes. If this were in place in 1951 instead of now, it might have been more relevant. But times and behaviors have already changed. My son, who grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland had so many friends of different ethnicities that he thought that racists attitudes were as much a matter of ancient history as people believing that the earth is flat. Times have already changed !
A quick look at the Wikipedia article on Virginia history will state that the first servants in Virginia Colony were indentured servants. The Jamestown colony was established in 1607 and this sort of servitude did not even get started until it was financially useful in 1619, a full year before the Boston / Plymouth Colony was even started. Servitude was the lowest rung of the class society that dominated the world stage at that time.
Slavery did not really exist until tobacco plantations began in the 1640s and did not take strong hold until Williamsburg became the capital around 1698. In fact, “most 17th-century immigrants were indentured servants, merchants or artisans.” (Wikipedia) Slavery become prevalent throughout Virginia once cotton plantations became widely established and did not take on the structure that we think of as slavery until the cotton gin made large scale plantations profitable after 1793. (There were gins before that but they were of limited use.)
So, let’s go back a step. Class societies have existed universally, worldwide until the American Revolution in 1776. We inherited the class system of England as colonies. The real revolution was one of a mindset and thinking stated clearly by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Its enactment started with the Revolutionary War and became complete with the end of the Civil War and the enactment of the 13th and 14th Amendments. It took time to get all these pieces together. But the philosophical underpinnings started in 1776! “All men (persons, in the current usage) are created equal”
Therefore, the 1619 Project is pure propaganda. It was invented by the Leftist newspaper, the New York Times, to be a battering ram for their ideology.
Holly Geddes
Chestertown
Deirdre LaMotte says
Because the GOP has no answer for it’s continuing assault on Democracy, they are changing the subject by
revving-up their “cancel culture”cries. No one is telling anyone to be “ashamed” of their skin color.
This nation, except for 2016-2020, continued to evolve. Accepting racism and our society’s obligation to be the best nation for all Americans, is a goal a democratic nation must have.
Interesting, however, the Party that says it’s against “cancel culture” is cancelling the cr*p out of
Liz Cheney for telling the truth.
Pete Buxton says
Imagine being a white person and writing “Slavery did not really exist until tobacco plantations began in the 1640s”, “But times and behaviors have already changed”, and “My son… had so many friends of different ethnicities that he thought that racists attitudes were as much a matter of ancient history”.
The fact that you use Jefferson as an example of why everything is fine now and that “all men are created equal” while not speaking to the fact that he kept his own children (that he fathered on an enslaved woman) in bondage does nothing besides prove the value in educating our society about our fraught relationship with “freedom” and “liberty”.
Geddes says
Read my article again. The statement “did not really exist”. Doesn’t say it did not exist. It was not generally profitable until the tobacco farms became large enough to need a large workforce. The main source of servitude before tobacco farms got big was indentured service. Slavery became most useful and profitable with cotton plantations.
In any case, slavery and the class system that helped it flourish was an artifact of our colonial culture. Both racism and institutional class societies are reprehensible. I do not believe in classifying persons into groups. Individuals may associate wit any group they choose. But for you to tell me that i belong in a group, especially one defined by how curly my hair is or how light my eyes are or how tall I am,… that is nasty, crude, ugly and unacceptable.
Kate Livie says
Hi Holly,
There are some very interesting ideas in here, and I can see that you are passionate about your position on the 1619 project.
But there’s also some factual inaccuracies, and as a Chesapeake historian, maybe I can shed a little light on some of the confusing bits. (Also, pro tip— Wikipedia is not a great source for historical research—I always tell my students to take anything they read there with a big grain of salt.)
“A quick look at the Wikipedia article on Virginia history will state that the first servants in Virginia Colony were indentured servants.” Jamestowne’s original colonists did rely initially on indentured servitude, which was an important source of labor in the early 17th century due to an economic depression in England that left many out of work and impoverished. But the first African slaves arrived in Jamestown in 1620. The enslaved quickly became the popular labor source —largely for the cultivation of tobacco— by the middle of the 17th century, especially as the population of European indentured servants dwindled. It was also in this period and through the beginning of the 18th century that slave laws were codified and racialized. Laws were passed that made it illegal, for example, for any black to “lift up his hand to a Christian” and “no white Christian servant was to be whipped naked, for nakedness was appropriate only for blacks.” Also stipulated was that while the property of white servants was protected, the property of slaves was confiscated. Laws also made slavery a condition that descended from enslaved mother to child, as laws stated that children born in the colony would take the social status of their mothers, regardless of who their fathers were.
“Slavery did not really exist until tobacco plantations began in the 1640s and did not take strong hold until Williamsburg became the capital around 1698. In fact, “most 17th-century immigrants were indentured servants, merchants or artisans.” (Wikipedia) Slavery become prevalent throughout Virginia once cotton plantations became widely established and did not take on the structure that we think of as slavery until the cotton gin made large scale plantations profitable after 1793. (There were gins before that but they were of limited use.)”
Again, this is incorrect. Slavery began when the first slaves arrived in the colonies, in 1620, and as I stated before, enslaved labor became critical to the growth of tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies in the 17th century. Many of these tobacco plantations were constructed along waterways and essentially acted as their own mini-ports, sending tobacco to factors in London for sale. So Williamsburg as the colonial seat of Virginia power may have made it governmentally ascendant, but the tobacco economy and the slave labor that sustained it was long entrenched. Slavery and tobacco were tied together, hand in hand, in the Chesapeake since the 17th century.
As cotton was never really a major Chesapeake crop the way it was further South, the development of Whitney’s gin did not greatly impact slavery here (at least in the way you propose). What it DID do, especially after the importation of slaves from out of the colonies was prohibited in 1807, was serve as a catalyst for the dissolution of enslaved families as they were broken up and sold South to meet the demand for slave labor to cultivate cotton.
Finally, you state “But the philosophical underpinnings started in 1776! “All men (persons, in the current usage) are created equal.” If only that statement reflected the belief that the enslaved were men. But it did not. The Declaration did not extend “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to African Americans, indentured servants, or women.
I read many of the pieces in the 1619 Project, and found them insightful and compelling, contributed to by some world class historians, helping to tell a broader, more nuanced, and yes, sometimes terrible story about how our American past was built on slavery. But knowing that only helps me understand where we are now. We have access to incredible historical knowledge and interpretation today—it’s an exciting time to be passionate about our Chesapeake and American history. Read it— 1619 is certainly not the only resource, and there are some truly amazing books out there I’d be happy to suggest if you’re interested. Think about what you read, and draw your own conclusions. There might be some uncomfortable revelations. Certainly more than you’re likely to find on Wikipedia.
Cheryl S. Hoopes says
Thank you for addressing each propagandist statement in Holly Geddes’ letter to the editor so thoroughly and accurately!
Maria Wood says
Thank you for taking the time to write this. Although the facts are difficult, the repercussions of this brutal legacy will be a destructive force in our country until we acknowledge them, understand them, and talk about them.
Steve Klingelhofer says
Holly, face the facts, and read Faulkner and other Southern writers, who wrestled withe the “Bear”, imported from Europe, as the racist infection in America from the beginning.
We, who are white Democrats or Republicans,, aren’t ” guilty”, unless we allow the infection to continue, unless we help stop it.
Lynn McLain says
From what I have read, the 1619 curriculum looks intentionally divisive. I believe its teachings, where adopted, will ultimately be very harmful to everyone, of all races and backgrounds.
Cheryl S. Hoopes says
As someone who has also read parts of the 1619 curriculum, I strongly disagree with your review. All that I have read points to intentional inclusion, (rather than division), through presentations of factual, life-changing lessons for students of all ages, races and backgrounds.
I see the adoption and assimilation of curricula like the 1619 Project as imperative for a basic understanding of a more complete American history instead of the more “traditional,” white-washed versions that most of us have received.
Kent County educators must look past cast aspersions and opinions, and dive critically into lessons like those found in the 1619 curriculum to give their students historical context for hope, criticism, and a place, in the “long arc of the moral universe” and its “[bent] toward justice.” (Dr. MLK, Jr., 1968)
Tom Timberman says
Ms Geddes characterization of slavery and its several century existence in America, is definitely original. Her point that slaves (people owned by other people) are more or less another form of indentured servitude (a contract for a definite term during which s/he is bound to her/his employer), if true, would indeed challenge the 1619 narrative. However, unfortunately, it is not.
Ms Geddes is correct that the number of slaves required grew exponentially as cotton production became a very profitable agricultural sector. However, that didn’t change the nature of slavery, it just created more demand which the slave trade and local brokers, were happy to supply.
The moral revulsion, which the British recognized earlier than Americans led to the devastating US Civil War (620,000 KIA), the Emancipation Proclamation, Reconstruction in the former confederacy, followed by the same states legalizing discrimination against African Americans and their segregation from white Americans (Jim Crowe). This continued violently until the Civil Rights Era, when Jim Crow practices were outlawed, but did not disappear.
Restrictive covenants and redlining by banks continued on until 1948 when the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional. However, the widely accepted wisdom that Blacks and Jews lowered housing values, probably still continues. Just don’t know.
What is still with us is white supremacy, white nationalism, police murders of Blacks, mass murders, insurrection fueled by white supremacy and other skewed beliefs. Most recently, the efforts in many states to limit voting rights by Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities reflect a racist view that started centuries ago when white Americans bought other human beings and enslaved them.
All that being said, Ms Geddes description of her son’s multi-cultural acceptance defines where our hope of a less racist future for America lies, in future generations.
Tom Timberman
Gren Whitman says
We Americans all live in the long shadow of slavery, even though Holly Geddes and her GOP mates so dearly want us to believe otherwise.