The True Story of 1619 and America’s Origins

A man looks at a census and a muster of Virginia, which mentions the first documented African woman to arrive in the Virginia Colony in Williamsburg, Va., on Aug. 19, 2019. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

In fall 2019, The New York Times released a special edition of its magazine, highlighting what it claimed was the 400th anniversary of the first African slaves arriving in the territory that would later become the United States of America.