What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedThe 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New York Times Magazine · Book · 2022
If you loved The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, start with Reconstruction: America After the Civil War (Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 2019) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 films, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story across media.
What hooked you in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story was the way it forces a critical, necessary re-examination of American history.
Films on the same thread
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen · Film · 2013
Explores: Injustice, Survival, Loss of Freedom.
Like The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, this film centers the brutal, lived reality of slavery to challenge sanitized historical narratives and confront the foundational trauma of America.
Hidden Figures
Film · 2016
Explores: Racial segregation, Women in STEM, Gender equality.
If you appreciated how The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story centers marginalized voices, this story of Black female pioneers at NASA offers a similarly essential, long-overdue historical perspective.
American History X
Tony Kaye · Film · 1998
Explores: Redemption, Racism, Hate Groups.
This film explores the damaging legacy of systemic racism and hate, mirroring the urgent investigation into white supremacy found throughout The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.
The Help
Film · 2011
Explores: Racial Injustice, Female Empowerment, Civil Rights.
This narrative complements the social history documented in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by dramatizing the complex, often stifling racial hierarchies of the American South.
Series on the same thread
Roots
Alex Haley · Series · 1977
Shares a thread with The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story: African American History.
Just as The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story traces the enduring impact of slavery, this foundational saga explores generational trauma and the resilience of African American families.
The U.S. and the Holocaust
Ken Burns · Series · 2022
Shares 2 threads with The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story: American History, Historical Revisionism.
This documentary aligns with the analytical rigor of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by examining how American political structures have historically facilitated profound human rights failures.
Reconstruction: America After the Civil War
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. · Series · 2019
Explores: Racial Justice, Democracy and Governance, Systemic Inequality.
This series acts as a vital companion to The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, providing a deep dive into the revolutionary possibilities and systemic collapses of Reconstruction.
The Underground Railroad
Barry Jenkins · Series · 2021
Shares a thread with The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story: Systemic racism.
By reimagining the Underground Railroad as a physical structure, this story echoes the way The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story uses creative framing to illuminate historical truths.
Podcasts on the same thread
Revisionist History
Pushkin Industries · Podcast · 2026
Shares a thread with The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story: historical revisionism.
If you value the investigative spirit of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, this podcast offers a similarly sharp, unconventional approach to correcting our understanding of the past.
The Daily
The New York Times · Podcast · 2026
Shares a thread with The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story: social justice.
This podcast shares the journalistic commitment to truth-telling found in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, providing consistent, deep-dive analysis into the most pressing social justice issues.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story a collection of journalism?
Yes, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story serves as a dramatic expansion of the original groundbreaking work of journalism published by The New York Times Magazine. It functions as a compendium that provides a revealing vision of the American past and present through updated, vital truth-telling.
Has The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story received any awards?
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story is a number one New York Times bestseller and an NAACP Image Award winner. These accolades recognize the book as a significant contribution to the historical discourse regarding the American experience and its foundational origins.
How is The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story described by critics?
Esquire describes The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story as a groundbreaking compendium that is both bracing and urgent. The publication characterizes the collection as an extraordinary update to an ongoing project of vital truth-telling that offers a profoundly revealing vision of the past and present in America.
What is the primary focus of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story?
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story focuses on offering a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present. By expanding on the original journalism, the book provides a comprehensive look at the historical narrative and the ongoing project of truth-telling within the United States.