Disney-Hulu’s ‘1619 Project’ Wins Emmy Award for Nikole Hannah-Jones, Oprah Winfrey

The Hulu docuseries The 1619 Project won an Emmy Award Sunday, marking the latest establishment plaudit for the controversial and widely discredited New York Times project that argued the true founding of the U.S. was not 1776, but rather 1619 when the first slaves were brought to America.

Hulu’s six-part docuseries, which debuted January last year, won in the category of Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony on Sunday. The honor was shared by several executive producers including Oprah Winfrey and Nikole Hannah-Jones, the radical leftist Times editor who spearheaded the project and erroneously argued that the Revolutionary War was fought in large part to preserve slavery.

The 1619 Project is adapted from the Times‘ series that faced extraordinary pushback from prominent historians for its dubious claims about the founding of the U.S.

Following its publication, “The 1619 Project” came under fire from several historical scholars who disputed the series’ central claim that American colonists fought the Revolutionary War in part to preserve slavery. The Times eventually corrected references to the contested claim.

The newspaper also deleted its central claim that 1619 is the “true founding of America.”

Despite these errors, Hannah-Jones received a Pulitzer Prize for the project.

Hulu’s docuseries attempted to resurrect her claims about the Revolutionary War. In addition, the series features an “expert” who put a price tag on slavery reparations for black Americans at around $14 trillion — or $350,000 per individual.

When the Disney-owned streaming service first announced the docuseries, it sent out a release stating that “systemic racism” must be acknowledged as a key facet of American history.

Disney gave the series a wider audience by airing certain episodes on ABC in May 2023.

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