Professor Emerita of History Allison Dorsey Featured in 1619 Project Series
Series host Nikole Hannah-Jones (right) visited Swarthmore’s campus in 2021 to discuss Professor Emerita of History Allison Dorsey’s research on freedom fighter Mustapha Shaw.
Professor Emerita of History Allison Dorsey appears in the “Justice” episode of the six-part Hulu series The 1619 Project.
The series covers historical events that denied Black Americans the opportunity to build generational wealth and examines what reparations the U.S. owes to the descendants of slavery.
Host and author Nikole Hannah-Jones visited Swarthmore’s campus in 2021 to talk with Dorsey about her research on Mustapha Shaw. Shaw was born enslaved on a plantation in Georgia, escaped slavery to join the Union’s U.S. Colored Troops, and fought to become an entrepreneur and landowner. The episode also features some of Shaw's descendants, who are fighting for restitution for the family-owned land, purchased by Shaw in 1870, that the federal government seized by eminent domain in the 1940s.
The 1619 Project is based on the 2019 New York Times initiative, which places the contributions of Black Americans and the consequences of slavery at the very center of the narrative of American history.
Watch “Justice,” Episode 6 of The 1619 Project, on Hulu. Listen to and read a transcript of Professor Emerita of History Allison Dorsey's 2014 lecture, "The Legend of Mustapha Shaw: Slave, Soldier, Rebel."
