{ "id": "epmqc6v7a0", "slug": "the-1619-project-2023-tv-series", "title": "The 1619 Project (2023 TV series)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "label": "Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.factual_entertainment_formats", "label": "Factual entertainment and specialist-interest formats", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.factual_entertainment_formats" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.factual_entertainment_formats.yr-2020-2026", "label": "Premiered 2020 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.factual_entertainment_formats.yr-2020-2026" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "label": "United States · 2021 and later: Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021", "label": "United States · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual", "label": "Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The 1619 Project (2023 TV series): six-part Hulu docuseries, premiered January 26, 2023, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, expanding the NYT project via episodes Democracy, Race, Music, Capitalism, Fear, Justice; Emmy-winning, Oprah Winfrey executive produced.", "snippet": "The 1619 Project (2023 TV series): six-part Hulu docuseries, premiered January 26, 2023, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, expanding the NYT project via episodes Democracy, Race, Music, Capitalism, Fear, Justice; Emmy-winning, Oprah Winfrey executive produced.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_documentary_factual.factual_entertainment_formats.yr-2020-2026", "markdown": "# The 1619 Project (2023 TV series)\n\n**The 1619 Project** is a six-part American documentary television series that premiered on Hulu on January 26, 2023, expanding the journalism initiative of the same name created by [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize)-winning journalist [Nikole Hannah-Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/nikole-hannah-jones) and The New York Times Magazine[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/) • [2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/the-1619-project). Hosted by Hannah-Jones, the series seeks to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the center of the national narrative, and it examines how the legacy of slavery shapes different aspects of contemporary American life[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/). It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series[3](https://www.axios.com/local/nw-arkansas/2024/01/16/nikole-hannah-jones-addresses-mlk-council).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | Six-part limited docu-series on Hulu, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/) |\n| Premiere | January 26, 2023; rated TV-MA[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/the-1619-project) |\n| Episodes | \"Democracy,\" \"Race,\" \"Music,\" \"Capitalism,\" \"Fear,\" and \"Justice,\" adapted from essays in *The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story*[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/) |\n| Production | Lionsgate production in association with One Story Up Productions, Harpo Films, and The New York Times[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/) |\n| Executive producers | Nikole Hannah-Jones, Roger Ross Williams, Caitlin Roper, Kathleen Lingo, and Oprah Winfrey; Shoshana Guy served as showrunner[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/) |\n| Critical reception | 93% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (15 reviews) and 67 on Metacritic, described as generally favorable[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-1619-project/critic-reviews/) |\n| Award | Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series[3](https://www.axios.com/local/nw-arkansas/2024/01/16/nikole-hannah-jones-addresses-mlk-council) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Episodes\n\nThe six episodes are adapted from essays in *The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story*, a No. 1 New York Times bestseller[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/). The first two episodes aired on January 26, 2023, the third and fourth on February 2, and the final two on February 9[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n\n1. **\"Democracy\"** (directed by Roger Ross Williams) covers Black America's centuries-long fight to democratize America and its founding ideals[1](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n2. **\"Race\"** (Shoshana Guy and Naimah Jabali-Nash) examines the construct of race as a political invention and its impact on Black women's bodies and reproductive lives[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n3. **\"Music\"** (Kamilah Forbes) celebrates Black music from Motown's popularity to funk's independence to today's genre-breaking musicians, maintaining that Black music is American music[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n4. **\"Capitalism\"** (Christine Turner) uses Hannah-Jones's family and current labor battles to argue that slavery formed the bedrock of American capitalism[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n5. **\"Fear\"** (Phil Bertelsen) traces how modern policing, surveillance, and the criminalization of Black Americans draw on the slavery era and the fear of Black rebellion[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n6. **\"Justice\"** (Roger Ross Williams and Jonathan Clasberry) examines historical events that denied Black Americans the opportunity to build generational wealth, through Hannah-Jones's family story and one Georgia community's fight for restitution[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01) • [10](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42713084/nikole-hannah-jones-1619-project-hulu-interview/).\n\n## Origin and development\n\nThe series grew out of [The 1619 Project](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project), the 2019 special issue of The New York Times Magazine that marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in colonial Virginia and argued for treating that year as a foundational date in American history[6](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/online-originals/the-1619-project) • [7](https://1619education.org/lesson-plan-grouping/1619-project-curriculum). The project had already expanded into a podcast, the book-length anthology *The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story*, and a children's book before reaching television[8](https://1619education.org/about-1619-project).\n\nIn July 2020, [Oprah Winfrey](https://www.edgepedia.org/oprah-winfrey) signed on to adapt the project with Lionsgate into a set of feature films and television shows, working with Hannah-Jones and The New York Times[9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-07-08/oprah-winfrey-lionsgate-adapt-slavery-series-1619-project). Hannah-Jones later said that when the development deal with Lionsgate was signed, the most obvious first iteration was a documentary series based on the book[10](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42713084/nikole-hannah-jones-1619-project-hulu-interview/).\n\n## Approach and style\n\nThe series blends narrative storytelling, interviews with experts, archival footage and photographs, and home video, much of it from the family life of Nikole Hannah-Jones, who had not planned to appear on camera when she began the project[6](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/online-originals/the-1619-project). Hannah-Jones uses her own life and family history to illustrate the six focal points, exploring the racism, poverty, and inequality many Black Americans continue to endure[11](https://www.thewrap.com/the-1619-project-review-hulu-series/). Reviewers noted her interviewing style: Common Sense Media wrote that she has \"an authentic, intentional interviewing style\" and that guests from a variety of backgrounds add fullness to the subject[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/the-1619-project).\n\nCompared with the original magazine project, which leaned more heavily on the past, the docuseries takes a more contemporary and personal approach[11](https://www.thewrap.com/the-1619-project-review-hulu-series/). RogerEbert.com described each episode as feeling like a conversation as well as a collection of personal essays, \"an educational memoir of Black America,\" citing parallels such as the origin of gynecology alongside continued medical racism affecting Black mothers, and cotton-picking logbooks compared with Amazon's warehouse protocols[12](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-1619-project-tv-review-2023).\n\n## Reception\n\nProfessional critics received the series favorably. On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 holds a 93% Tomatometer from 15 reviews, with a critics consensus calling it \"a comprehensive and often eye-opening treatise on American history,\" while the audience Popcornmeter stood at 33% from more than 50 ratings[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01). Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 67 based on 7 critic reviews, with 4 positive and 3 mixed and none negative[5](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-1619-project/critic-reviews/).\n\nIndividual reviews varied in emphasis. Rolling Stone scored it 90, praising how it weaves shots of Black Americans with firsthand accounts, interviews, and stories omitted from the historical record; Time (70) found some episodes remedial for news followers but credited the series with astute, highly personal connections between the antebellum and pre-civil-rights past and the present; [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter) (50) judged that the series failed to sufficiently adjust its storytelling to the visual demands of television[5](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-1619-project/critic-reviews/). [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker)'s Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor wrote that the series offers a damning portrait of American racism but that its emphasis on the past at times obscures the complexity of the present[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n\nThe series also drew political criticism. The historian Phillip Magness, a research fellow at the Independent Institute, called the \"Capitalism\" episode historically shoddy in a [National Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-review) essay[13](https://www.thecollegefix.com/1619-project-series-gets-capitalism-wrong-historian/). In 2023, [Colonial Williamsburg](https://www.edgepedia.org/colonial-williamsburg)'s leadership noted that the docuseries criticized the site for not doing enough history of enslavement, while the Heritage Foundation criticized it for doing too much[14](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/11/colonial-williamsburg-historical-accuracy/684330/).\n\nIn January 2024, the series won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series[3](https://www.axios.com/local/nw-arkansas/2024/01/16/nikole-hannah-jones-addresses-mlk-council). It is available on Hulu and Disney+[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01).\n\n## References\n\n1. [The 1619 Project, Hulu Press](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-1619-project/)\n2. [The 1619 Project – Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/the-1619-project)\n3. [Hannah-Jones addresses MLK Council in Arkansas, Axios](https://www.axios.com/local/nw-arkansas/2024/01/16/nikole-hannah-jones-addresses-mlk-council)\n4. [The 1619 Project: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_1619_project/s01)\n5. [The 1619 Project critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-1619-project/critic-reviews/)\n6. [Recontextualizing History with The 1619 Project, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/online-originals/the-1619-project)\n7. [The 1619 Project Curriculum, Pulitzer Center](https://1619education.org/lesson-plan-grouping/1619-project-curriculum)\n8. [About The 1619 Project, Pulitzer Center](https://1619education.org/about-1619-project)\n9. [Oprah Winfrey signs on to adapt '1619 Project' for TV, film, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-07-08/oprah-winfrey-lionsgate-adapt-slavery-series-1619-project)\n10. [Nikole Hannah-Jones on Adapting 'The 1619 Project' for the TV Screen, Harper's Bazaar](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42713084/nikole-hannah-jones-1619-project-hulu-interview/)\n11. ['The 1619 Project' Review: With Hulu Docuseries, Nikole Hannah-Jones Regains the Upper Hand, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/the-1619-project-review-hulu-series/)\n12. [The 1619 Project movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-1619-project-tv-review-2023)\n13. ['Incoherent narrative': 1619 Project's new Hulu series gets capitalism all wrong, scholar says, The College Fix](https://www.thecollegefix.com/1619-project-series-gets-capitalism-wrong-historian/)\n14. [What Is Colonial Williamsburg For?, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/11/colonial-williamsburg-historical-accuracy/684330/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › Factual entertainment and specialist-interest formats › Premiered 2020 to 2026*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project-2023-tv-series", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project-2023-tv-series.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The 1619 Project (2023 TV series)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project-2023-tv-series. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The 1619 Project (2023 TV series)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project-2023-tv-series)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project-2023-tv-series](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project-2023-tv-series). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The 1619 Project (2023 TV series)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1619-project-2023-tv-series. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The 1619 Project: six-part Hulu docuseries, premiered January 26, 2023, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, expanding the NYT project via episodes Democracy, Race, Music, Capitalism, Fear, Justice; Emmy-winning, Oprah Winfrey executive produced." }