Dennis Prager talks with Sandy and Frances about their illustrated African American history book covering 1619 to 2019. They present it as an alternative to the 1619 Project, offering lesson plans and teaching materials through the Yoakum African American History Association.
Started out as civil rights, but then we just sort of morphed into the wide range of history that is not, I can tell you, in public school history books, because I'm still substitute teaching, and I go into those rooms, and I look in the history books, and I know it's devoid of these incredible stories. So, that was the, what inspired me, and Frances, she had similar inspirations, and I'll let her share this.
Francis?
Yes, I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, and I experienced what was going on in those communities. And I just thought that when I saw what was happening lately with the critical race theory, they were misinterpreting and misreporting what happened. And I knew the The Truth, and I asked Sandy if she could write the lesson plans. And she spent 2 years of original research and wrote 14 lesson plans, and then we used those lesson plans as the meat of the book that we wrote together. And we found that the Yoakum African American History Association— and you can visit our website and see the lesson plans, and you can see videos and the PowerPoints and the teacher's guide.
So is it fair to say that this is, whether intended or not, an antidote to the 1619 Project?
We started our project back in 2016 when she began the research, and we knew nothing. Right.
No, no, I agree with you. This had nothing to do with it then, but could it be described as that today?
I believe it could.
Okay, good. All right, we'll be back in a moment with both of you. The book, uh, is up, an illustrated, uh, Black History 1619 to 2019, an illustrated and documented African American history.
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