Nikole Hannah-Jones’ Oprah-produced ’1619 Project’ is coming to Hulu. How to watch.
Hulu will premiere a new limited docuseries as part of the latest expansion of “The 1619 Project,” a lauded but debated multimedia journalistic project that places the history of slavery at the center of America’s founding.
The six-part series, also called “The 1619 Project,” is set to debut on the streaming service with two episodes on Thursday, Jan. 26.
Behind the series is the project’s lead author, New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who is the series’ host and is one of its executive producers alongside Oprah Winfrey.
Hannah-Jones was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2020 for the project, which was published in special section, book and six-part New York Times podcast.
The six episodes — “Democracy,” “Race,” “Music,” “Capitalism,” “Fear” and “Justice” ― are adapted from essays from the book “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.” The book expands on the original issue of the project released in The New York Times Magazine in 2019.
“This is a story of America, that’s our argument,” said Hannah-Jones at the Television Critics Association tour this month, according to Deadline, an industry news website. “You can’t understand the story of America without understanding the story of slavery. It’s not a documentary about Black people, it’s a documentary series about America. It offers a better understanding of the country we live in.”
Hannah-Jones’ career includes living and working in North Carolina, where she studied journalism at the University of North Carolina and formerly worked as a News & Observer education reporter.
Hannah-Jones and The 1619 Project have generated headlines locally and nationally.
The project has been mentioned among debate over Critical Race Theory and how students learn the history of the United States, The News & Observer previously reported. The New York Times clarified a claim from the project that a “primary reason the colonists fought the American Revolution was to protect the institution of slavery.”
But The Times said it stands behind “the basic point” and pointed to the project about “how important it is to continue to work together to illuminated the past.”
UNC controversy
In North Carolina, controversy ensued in 2021 when UNC-Chapel Hill announced Hannah-Jones would join the Hussman School of Journalism as a faculty member, but denied her tenure.
The saga resulted in a bitter dispute between Hannah-Jones and the UNC Board of Trustees.
“The Board of Trustees for the university... they are political appointees, most of them had been appointed by Republican governors and they opposed The 1619 Project,” Hannah-Jones told news podcast Latino USA this month.
Professional athletes, artists, historians, journalists, political activists and UNC alumni across the nation publicly showed their support for the university granting Hannah-Jones tenure.
The Board of Trustees eventually did, but Hannah-Jones declined to come to UNC. Instead, she accepted a position at Howard University to become an inaugural Knight Chair.
The dispute culminated in a settlement between Hannah-Jones and the university for less than $75,000 approved by Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz.
Hannah-Jones previously stated that three key initiatives included in the settlement are mostly related to improving diversity and supporting people of color at the university. Hannah-Jones said she and her legal team “took these concessions directly from the asks of student and faculty groups and fought very hard for them.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Nikole Hannah-Jones’ Oprah-produced ’1619 Project’ is coming to Hulu. How to watch.."
