Published in 2019 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans’ arrival on U.S. shores, “The 1619 Project” is being taught by many history professors. Professor Christopher Span believes the collection “should be added to every undergraduate course surveying American history,” and he has taught “The 1619 Project” in both his undergraduate and graduate courses. Learn more about the “1619 Project,” which details impact on everything from prison systems to land laws, as well as the origins of capitalism to the evolution of the American diet.
Christopher M. Span received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2001. He is the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in the College of Education and Professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership (EPOL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is an historian of education and specializes in the educational history of African Americans in the 19th century. He is the author of From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse: African American Education in Mississippi, 1862-1875 (University of North Carolina Press, 2009), and has published numerous articles and book chapters on the educational history of African Americans. He was a co-editor for the History of Education Quarterly, is the immediate past Vice President of Division F (History of American Education) for the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and is the President of the History of Education Society (2020).
