( Dr. Richard Bell)

Four years ago the New York Times magazine started an initiative called the "1619 Project" to look at the 400th anniversary of black slavery in America.

The project has sparked hundreds of conversations on the legacy of black slavery and the contributions of black Americans, creating backlash as several states have incited laws to block it from public schools.

Dr. Richard Bell is a professor of history at the University of Maryland and is hosting a series of lectures about the project at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Boise and he joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this subject.