A bill seeking to ban the teaching of the controversial 1619 Project in Arkansas failed to pass through the state’s Republican-controlled House.
The bill, referred to as the Saving American History Act of 2021, was introduced by Republican lawmaker Rep. Mark Lowery last month with several Republican co-sponsors but failed to pass through the GOP-controlled House’s Education Committee on a voice vote Tuesday.
The 1619 Project, first published by the New York Times Magazine in 2019 to "reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States," has been at the center of several controversies since its inception, including questions about the curriculum’s factual accuracy.
"This is something, as far as adoption of curriculum, that's best left to the local elected boards and administrators and educators," State Education Secretary Johnny Key said about the bill’s passage.
The project, which earned a Pulitzer Prize last year, has drawn the ire of Republicans across the country, including former President Donald Trump, who made it known several times that he opposed its introduction into school curriculums.
In September of last year, Trump introduced the “1776 Commission,” which aimed at restoring “patriotic education” in schools and pushing back against critical race theory and the 1619 Project.
“Our mission is to defend the legacy of America’s founding, the virtue of America’s heroes, and the nobility of the American character,” Trump said at the time.
The commission was dissolved via executive order by President Biden shortly after he took office last month.
