1619 Project Creator Nikole Hannah-Jones Regrets Daughter's School Choice

Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of The 1619 Project, has expressed regret over her decision to send her daughter to predominantly Black, high-poverty public schools in Brooklyn. In a recent New York Times Magazine essay, Hannah-Jones stated that her now 16-year-old daughter, Najya, told her she did not receive the education she wanted.

"Now I felt overcome with regret. Najya deserved better," Hannah-Jones wrote. "They all did. But she was mine. This girl, my only child, looked to me to protect her, to give her what she needed to thrive. And I had not chosen her."

Hannah-Jones' assessment marks a departure from a 2016 New York Times Magazine essay where she described enrolling Najya in Brooklyn's P.S. 307, a school that was then predominantly Black and Latino and served a largely low-income population. At the time, Hannah-Jones believed that middle-class families could improve segregated schools by enrolling their children and investing in them, stating, "I worried — I worry still — about whether I made the right decision for our little girl. But I knew I made the just one."

The new essay details academic shortcomings that became more apparent as Najya progressed. According to Hannah-Jones, her daughter and her friends realized they were not sufficiently challenged, experiencing limited homework and what were described as gaps in math preparation. Najya told her mother, "Sometimes I wish instead of always thinking about other kids, you would have thought about me. I never really got the education I wanted."

Emily Paige, the principal of Najya's middle school, Unison, acknowledged in the essay that efforts to accommodate students who entered academically behind had unintended consequences, including the elimination of homework. Paige noted, "It is important to not, in our pursuit of being antiracist, lower expectations. Because this is what happens, right? It’s racism under the guise of antiracism."

School choice advocate Corey DeAngelis commented on Hannah-Jones' essay, stating, "Parents should put their children first. They should not sacrifice them to a failing government school system in the name of ideology." He added, "Nikole Hannah-Jones now says she regrets putting her ideals ahead of her daughter’s education. That admission is long overdue."

DeAngelis suggested that Hannah-Jones' experience should lead her to support policies allowing education funding to follow children to schools selected by their families, arguing, "She should fight for the funding to follow the student so more parents have the same educational opportunities she can buy for herself. School choice is an equalizer."

Hannah-Jones also emphasized the plight of families who lack the resources to pursue better educational options for their children, stating, "I hope people concerned about the choice my husband and I made for our daughter will have equal or more outrage for the thousands of Black children whose parents don’t have the resources to send them to better schools."

The debate over school choice is ongoing in New York, where teachers' unions have opposed Governor Kathy Hochul's plan to participate in a federal tax-credit scholarship program aimed at helping families afford educational alternatives. The 1619 Project, which reframes American history by focusing on slavery and racism, has faced scrutiny from historians regarding its factual accuracy, though its theories have been developed into an educational curriculum.