The Alternative 1619 Project Reading Challenge©: Day 21

1776–1808: The Limits of Freedom

We are in the final stretch of our Alternative 1619 Project Reading Challenge. Below is the second of three sections of the Broadsheet from the New York Times 1619 Project and the Pulitzer Center designed reading guide. We have broken the sections up into the time periods noted in the Broadsheet and shared our own commentary, pictures, and explanation in an Alternative Broadsheet. Each day starts with an explanation for our alternative images and text for the corresponding time period to promote critical thinking on Critical Race Theory.

Explanation: 1776–1808: The Limits of Freedom

While slavery solidified its hold on Southern culture and consciousness, the limits of freedom for blacks began to expand in the North between 1776 and 1808. Phyllis Wheatley challenged perceptions of black intellectual inferiority with her lyrical words. Wentworth Cheswell won election as town constable in Newmarket, New Hampshire and brought honor to the Cheswell name. And the most influential man in the young nation, George Washington, freed all his slaves upon his death in 1799. No doubt Washington was influenced, in part, by the universal humanity expressed in the poetry of Wheatley.