ABOUT

400 Years of Inequality is a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals calling on everyone - families, friends, communities, institutions - to plan their own solemn observance of 1619, learn about their own stories and local places, and organize for a more just and equal future. We are dedicated to dismantling structural inequality and building strong, healthy communities.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

Every community has something to contribute.
The observance you plan will reflect your local story and your values. An observance can be anything you like: a performance, an exhibit, a tree planting, a citywide potluck, a concert. We have collected some ideas and strategies for crafting an observance in our Starter Kit.

We are all in the “ecology of inequality”.
We insist that a nationwide observance of the lasting impact of chattel slavery on American society and government is key to healing and building a just future. We see how many forms of oppression - such as class, race, religion, ethnicity, immigration status, sex, and gender - intersect, layer, and reinforce the ecology, deprive us of a truly free society. We are inspired by the long history of coalitions in successfully challenging inequality, and believe that it is only through coalition that we can create an equitable society.

Poet Bette Bland at our "Creating the Call to Observance" conference, 2018. Photo by Aubrey Murdock.

We stand by Fannie Lou Hamer’s declaration that “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” and Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which states “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”