The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum

Angry at the publication of “The 1619 Project,” a series of articles in the New York Times Magazine eventually made into a set of lessons for schools, Hillsdale College published its own lesson plans for teaching American history.  Its version is known as the “1776 Curriculum”

While some aspects of the “The 1619 Project” have been criticized (I’m one of the critics), the Project does elevate slavery to an important position in American history, often downplayed in the past.  My own education was sadly lacking in this regard.  

However, the Hillsdale College lesson plan is a whitewash.  (Yes, I intended that.)  Hillsdale College is a conservative Christian college with a huge endowment funded by rightists.  Its ideas on American history are in the process of being adopted in Florida.  

Here’s an example of the slant.  Teachers are told to consider with students the significance of the Constitution not using the word “slave” and instead using “person.”  Refusing to use the word “slave” avoided giving legal legitimacy to slavery....The use of the word “person” forced even slaveholders to recognize the humanity of the slave.

If you know anything about the way slaves were treated and denied their humanity, that statement alone calls into question the whole “1776 curriculum.”   It’s junk history.  

For a review of both the Hillsdale program and the 1619 Project, see Adam Hochschild, “History Bright and Dark,” The New York Review of Books, (May 25, 2023), pp. 25-27.  I took the quote above from that review.