If high school history courses are meant to introduce students to the paradoxes and debates of American history, then they should study the 1619 Project, the authors argue in this article. College history students regularly debate the extent to which slavery was formative to the development of American systems of law, business, medicine, religion and foreign policy. The original 1619 Project, in addition to the "1619 Project" book, offers teachers a set of historical essays they can assign, debate, and discuss with their students. However in 27 states, elected officials on school boards and legislatures press to muzzle classroom discussions on slavery, race, and white supremacy under the presumption that an emphasis on the structures of white supremacy stokes conflict over inequality and furthers unfair implications of white students' complicity in American racism. When politicians encourage teachers to censor the historical record and thus prevent discussion of controversies, they reduce primary and secondary education in social studies to nationalistic indoctrination.