Is There Now A Pulitzer Prize For Fiction?

Nikole Hannah-Jones
Photo credit YouTube Screenshot
New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her outlandish essay claiming that the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery.
The essay, entitled, "Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true," spearheaded the newspaper's 1619 Project.

Not only were Hannah-Jones' claims about the war itself wrong, her claim about when the Declaration of Independence was signed was wrong. Her essay says the document was signed on July 4, 1776. However, while it was adopted that day (thus marking Independence Day), it was not signed until about a month later. Seems like a prize-winning "serious" journalist who is after the truth would know that.

As far as the reason for the American Revolution, Hannah-Jones writes, "Conveniently left out of our founding mythology is the fact that one of the primary reasons the colonists decided to declare their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery."

Hannah-Jones has received backlash from historians over her false claims, including from Northwestern University Professor Leslie Harris, who wrote in a Politico article in March:
... I listened in stunned silence as Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter for the New York Times, repeated an idea that I had vigorously argued against with her fact-checker: that the patriots fought the American Revolution in large part to preserve slavery in North America.

I vigorously disputed the claim. Although slavery was certainly an issue in the American Revolution, the protection of slavery was not one of the main reasons the 13 Colonies went to war.

What does a Pulitzer even mean anymore?

READ MORE.