In January of this year, 826 New Orleans staff and volunteers visited Ms. Pillow’s 10th grade class at Carver High School once a week to learn and write about what the young people asked for - “the real Black history.”

Using The 1619 Project as a touchstone, students analyzed historical American documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, and engaged in critical conversations about the extent to which these documents were written to include or exclude Black Americans. Students used language from these texts as the base for spine poetry. They turned their powerful pieces into collages with the support of artist Katrina Andry, who also designed the cover of the book. The book was also graced by the phenomenal Dr. Yaba Blay, creator of “Professional Black Girl, who wrote the beautiful foreword.