August 2019
Elijah McClain, 23, a massage therapist and amateur violinist who was neurodivergent, was stopped by Aurora, CO police on August 24, 2019, while walking home wearing headphones. Officers put him in a caretaker hold and called paramedics, who injected him with ketamine — a large dose based on an inaccurate weight estimate. McClain went into cardiac arrest and died August 30. Initial investigation cleared officers. Following the 2020 protests, Colorado Governor Polis ordered a new investigation. In 2021, two officers and two paramedics were charged with manslaughter and assault. One officer was convicted of criminally negligent homicide in 2023. Aurora settled for $15 million.
The New York Times Magazine published The 1619 Project, conceived and led by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, on August 14, 2019, the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in English North America. The project reframed American history by placing slavery and Black Americans' contributions at the center of the national narrative. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Republican politicians and some historians launched sustained attacks; Tom Cotton called slavery a 'necessary evil'; multiple states introduced legislation to ban its teaching. Hannah-Jones was denied tenure at UNC-Chapel Hill in a politically motivated decision before the faculty overruled trustees.
Events
- August 14, 2019The 1619 Project Reframes American History Around Slavery
The New York Times Magazine published The 1619 Project, conceived and led by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, on August 14, 2019, the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in English North America. The project reframed American history by placing slavery and Black Americans' contributions at the center of the national narrative. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Republican politicians and some historians launched sustained attacks; Tom Cotton called slavery a 'necessary evil'; multiple states introduced legislation to ban its teaching. Hannah-Jones was denied tenure at UNC-Chapel Hill in a politically motivated decision before the faculty overruled trustees.
- August 14, 2019The 1619 Project Reframes American History Around Slavery
The New York Times Magazine published The 1619 Project, conceived by Nikole Hannah-Jones, on August 14, 2019. The project reframed American history by placing slavery and Black Americans at the center of the national narrative. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Republican politicians launched sustained attacks; multiple states introduced legislation to ban its teaching. Hannah-Jones was denied tenure at UNC-Chapel Hill in a politically motivated decision before accepting a chair at Howard University.
- August 24, 2019Elijah McClain Killed by Aurora Colorado Officers; Officers Initially Not Charged
Elijah McClain, 23, a massage therapist and amateur violinist who was neurodivergent, was stopped by Aurora, CO police on August 24, 2019, while walking home wearing headphones. Officers put him in a caretaker hold and called paramedics, who injected him with ketamine — a large dose based on an inaccurate weight estimate. McClain went into cardiac arrest and died August 30. Initial investigation cleared officers. Following the 2020 protests, Colorado Governor Polis ordered a new investigation. In 2021, two officers and two paramedics were charged with manslaughter and assault. One officer was convicted of criminally negligent homicide in 2023. Aurora settled for $15 million.