Letters to the Editor

Abstract

To the Editor: The September 2021 issue of the JAH features the presidential address by George J. Sánchez. Within a scathing assessment of the presidency of Donald Trump and “assaults on contemporary democracy,” Sánchez offers this statement: “The 1619 Project by the New York Times made clear the impact of slavery on the founding policies, culture, and documents of the nation, but backlash against that factual interpretation [italics added] could also be brutal” (p. 255). To only characterize the 1619 Project as a “factual interpretation” is very troubling. Criticism of the 1619 Project's factual accuracy has come from highly regarded historians. Sánchez only alludes to criticism he characterizes as brutal backlash. The distinguished list of critics includes Gordon Wood. While not acknowledging Wood's critique of the factual interpretations of the 1619 Project, Sánchez approvingly cites the views of “The historian of the American Revolution” who “claimed that the revolutionary generation,...