Telling the Story: Part 2

Telling the Story: Part 2

From Living Words by The Rev'd William Klock

July 19, 2026

About this episode

William Klock discusses the reframing of American history through the lens of slavery and the impact of The 1619 Project.

Telling the Story: Part 2 Acts 7:1-16 by William Klock   When I was an American school kid in the 70s and 80s I learned that the defining events in the history of the United States were was the founding of Jamestown in 1607; the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620; and, of course, the Revolutionary War that began in 1775 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence—well—almost exactly 250 years ago. There were plenty of other events that shaped the story, but those were the events that set the United States on its trajectory: a heritage from Britain with a good dose of religious freedom and Protestant work ethic coming together in a grand expression of the rights of man shaped by the Enlightenment. Were there flaws? Yep. Slavery was a big one. But the way I learned the story, the British mainland colonies of North America were on the fringe of the slave trade. We received a tiny fraction of it. The real slavery problem was in the Caribbean and Latin America. Plus, we dealt with it. The whole Civil War thing—a tragedy. But it was a story to be proud of.   But in 2019, the New York Times began a new publishing project. They called it The…

People in this episode

Host: William Klock

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York Times

Books & works: Declaration of Independence, Constitution

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