Hulu has announced it will stream the planned docuseries adaptation of the New York Times‘ “1619 Project,” the controversial and widely discredited series of articles that sought to establish 1619 — the year the first slaves came to America — as the true founding of the United States.
As Breitbart News reported, the New York Times is partnering with Lionsgate and Oprah Winfrey to produce the “1619” docuseries. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Times journalist who spearheaded the series of articles, will serve as a producer along with Winfrey.
The streaming service, Hulu, which is majority owned by the Walt Disney Co., didn’t announced a premiere date for the series in its press release on Thursday. Shoshana Guy will serve as showrunner while Roger Ross Williams, who won an Oscar for the short documentary film Music by Prudence, will direct the first episode, produce, and oversee the Hulu series.
Williams said in a statement that “systemic racism” must be acknowledged as a key facet of American history.
“Our most cherished ideals and achievements cannot be understood without acknowledging both systemic racism and the contributions of Black Americans. And this isn’t just about the past — Black people are still fighting against both the legacy of this racism and its current incarnation,” he said.
Hulu’s press release described Hannah-Jones as “one of the nation’s foremost investigative journalists.”
Following its publication, “The 1619 Project” came under fire from several historical scholars who disputed the series’ central claim that American colonists fought the Revolutionary War in part to preserve slavery. The Times eventually corrected references to the contested claim.
The newspaper also deleted its central claim that 1619 is the “true founding of America.”
Despite these errors, Hannah-Jones received a Pulitzer Prize for the project.
The Times has re-purposed the “1619 Project” to be taught in schools — a move that former President Donald Trump condemned. “Department of Education is looking at this. If so, they will not be funded!” he tweeted last year.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.