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Princeton's distinguished liberal historian Sean Wilentz absolutely pile-drives Jake Silverstein, Nikole Hannah-Jones, & the 1619 project: "No effort to educate the public...to advance social justice can afford to dispense with a respect for basic facts." theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
There is a compelling contrast between Wilentz's careful dismantling of the 1619 Project's errors and the much-heralded, self-regarding "Twitterstorians" who seek out weak targets to punch down at while ducking these sorts of serious critiques. newyorker.com/culture/cultur…
I find it interesting that @KevinMKruse, the most famous "Twitterstorian" - who contributed to the 1619 project - has gone very quiet here on his senior colleagues' serious factual critiques of the project, particularly its lead essay.
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Dan McLaughlin
@baseballcrank
The Times goes all-in on the 1619 Project's factually misleading history. Notable here: when push comes to shove, the expertise of liberal academics who have studied these issues for a lifetime & earned widespread acclaim gives way to the imperatives of ideology.
In the 1860s, the New York Times was staunchly supportive of Abe Lincoln. Today, it not only promotes the smearing of Lincoln, but endorses the arguments of his opponents - Stephen Douglas and Roger Taney, drawing on John C. Calhoun - about the American Founding.

What switched?
I don't think credentialed academics should have a monopoly on history - or any other area. I do think that if you're challenging the experts in a field from the outside, you need to come loaded for bear with evidence & specificity.
Read 7 tweets
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Dan McLaughlin
@baseballcrank
One, this is a very good clip if you actually watch it.

Two, she doesn't say that's what it stands for, but what many people felt it stands for.

Three, if a symbol has multiple meanings - some very bad - it's a free country, but a good reason to take it off govt property.
What I wrote at the time: The Rise & Fall of the Confederate Flag in South Carolina baseballcrank.com/archives2/2015…
Meanwhile, the man who *raised* the Confederate flag over the Capitol in South Carolina served as a Democrat in the US Senate until 2005, & was eulogized warmly in 2019 by the current front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 nationalreview.com/2019/06/joe-bi…
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Dan McLaughlin
@baseballcrank
1. This thread is wrong. To start with, the "house divided" speech launched Lincoln's 1858 Senate campaign, it wasn't during the war. The last thing Lincoln was arguing for in 1858 was crushing the slaveowners.
2. Lincoln worked hard in 1858-60 to position himself as making a modest, even conservative, case: restrict further expansion of slavery to establish the principle of its wrongness & prevent its growth. His speech made clear that the slave power was the aggressor:
3. Lincoln's specific grievance was the pro-slavery faction's use of the Supreme Court (in Dred Scott) to short-circuit any further effort at legislative compromise, nationalizing the issue to heighten the crisis:
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Nicholas Guyatt
@NicholasGuyatt
I’m sorry to inform everyone that Sean Wilentz has written _that_ article again, the one about #1619Project being compromised by “serious inaccuracies.” (Thread) theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
I’m tempted not to engage because Wilentz’s Ahab-like fascination with the Project is unsettling. (I’ll come back to that.) But for now his repeated allegations of factual errors by @nhannahjones and @jakesilverstein invite a response from those of us in the profession.
On the “facts”, first of all, he attempts to refute three specific claims made by the Project:
Read 27 tweets
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Karin Wulf
@kawulf
#1619, a thread. 🧵

A lot of digital ink already spilled on this, but I wanted to share some thoughts abt the #1619project. I wrote a bunch of drafts of a blog post & though I kept taking time to read & think more, it didn't get me any closer to a longer piece. So, a thread.
I’m a historian of #VastEarlyAmerica; my own research includes critical evidence abt the structure & function of slavery & its effects. But this has not been the central focus of my work & there are many, many other scholars’ whose ideas/words are more relevant.
And many other commentators have shared wise insights.

Still, I care, teach, write abt early America (#VastEarlyAmerica), lead a pub & research org, & the #1619Project has been part of my internal dialogue for months in ways that will shape my teaching, writing & more.
Read 22 tweets
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Seth Cotlar
@SethCotlar
Historian Sean Wilentz reviews Tim Alberta’s “American Carnage.” I concur that the book’s constrained time scale obscures the deeper roots of Trumpism. The rot set in long before McCain picked Palin for VP. nybooks.com/articles/2019/…
I got almost 2/3 of the way through Alberta's book this summer before I had to switch out of summer mode. Here are some of my takeaways from what I think is ultimately a very important and insightful account of the last decade of GOP politics
Read 3 tweets
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The Root
@TheRoot
This year’s list of #TheRoot100 honorees is a reminder of the beauty and brilliance of blackness, at a time when the political and cultural landscape has grown even more hostile to the idea of black achievement! trib.al/dCxtJMy
No. 100: Elizabeth Lindsey (@elindse1)

Lindsey is the executive director of Byte Back, an organization that trains underrepresented communities in tech-sector careers: trib.al/2STc2Br
No. 99: Brooke Obie (@BrookeObie)

The managing editor of black film and TV site @shadowandact sparked a national conversation about Green Book, another in a long line of films that centered whiteness at the expense of compelling black stories: trib.al/rtf4FPh
Read 100 tweets
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Ted McCormick
@mccormick_ted
If you object to historical research because of the implications you think it has for present-day institutions or ideals, the history isn't "politicized." Your response is.
The same can of course be said for *approving* of historical research because of its perceived present-day implications -- whether these issue in demands for change or celebrations of the status quo.
The point is that how we *respond to* history is almost inevitably "political."

Blaming historians for this, or judging research by it, is foolish.

Insisting that they produce research that *has* no implications -- or, what is often meant, conservative ones -- is utterly vain.
Read 31 tweets
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Trymaine Lee
@trymainelee
I can’t think of a more necessary project in this moment than the NYT Magazine’s #1619Project. It argues, in so many thoughtful ways, that there would be no American democracy without the struggles of black folks to fully clarify what democracy actually is.
As the brilliant heart and soul behind this project, Nikole Hannah Jones @nhannahjones puts it, “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true.” nytimes.com/interactive/20…
The project’s essayists, poets & artists unpack how our presence here from the beginning would shape nearly every aspect of American social, political and economic life. It untangles that legacy, looking into the past and into our present, reframing the American story.
Read 8 tweets

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