♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, seeking truth. nicole hanna jones wants to set the record straight. >> this is not black american history. this is american history. >> what she says her 1619 project is really about. >> history is not just about what we're taught, but also all of the omissions. >> some see it differently. >> i mean, it's just full of bad history. plus "house of gucci." it was a name that sounded so sweet, so seductive. >> the murderous intrigue of one of fashion's most famous families. >> there's all big things about being seduced by power. knowing what you shouldn't be doing and doing it anyway. >> and the film's star-studded

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♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. nicole hanna jones wants people to think about american history and not just the parts that most of us learned in school. her new book furthers what she

started in the original "1619 project." here's abc's linsey davis. ♪ >> reporter: on a still morning in virginia, nicole hanna jones remembers. >> you are standing on sacred land. ♪ >> reporter: here on this shoreline at fort monroe, she's paying tribute to the first enslaved africans who arrived in america in 1619. >> with our sister, our beloved nicole hanna jones here, we must tell the truth and have the courage to speak forth. >> reporter: the date is fundamental to the journalist's most well-known piece of work, "the 1619 project" in which she argues slavery's legacy shapes everything in our democracy. >> you can look at the insurrection on january 6th. you can look at all of the efforts in states to restrict voting. you can look at why are we the

most incarcerated nation in the world? >> reporter: it's the debate over that year that's made hanna jones one of the most lauded and vilified public figures in america. >> we should all take the 1619 project as a story about america. this is not black american history. this is american history. >> what was your inspiration for the "1619 project"? >> i learned about the year 1619 in a one semester black studies elective i took in high school. there was a power both in understanding black people had actually been here almost as long as the english settlers, which no one had taught us. >> reporter: the new book "the 1619 project: a new origin story" argues slavery isn't part of the american story, it's central to it. would you say you're reframing the histor or rewriting the history? >> we're not rewriting it. because, one, everything in the 1619 project is based off of decades of historical scholarship. what we're certainly doing is reframing it. >> reporter: daughter of a black

father and a white mother from waterloo, iowa, she felt disparities firsthand between her black and white relatives. >> my black ground mother was born in 1924 in greenwood, mississippi, where black people couldn't vote, black people couldn't attend what schools they wanted to, black people couldn't go to the library. my white grandfather was born in 1924. as a white man, he could do all those things. >> reporter: the "1619" project is her brain child. first published in a special edition of the "new york times" magazine in 2019, it was a sensation. supporters celebrated its message of inclusivity and diversity. the magazine now selling on ebay for $500. hanna jones won the highly esteemed pulitzer prize. but as her star rocketed, controversy followed closely behind. her social media became a magnet for outrage and ire. hanna jones fired back. >> when people try to discredit my work, i felt like i had to be out there doing battle. i regret that, absolutely.

>> reporter: in 2020 came her most high-profile detractor of all, the president of the united states. >> the left has warped, distorted, and defiled the american story. there is no better example than "the new york times" totally discredited "1619 project." >> reporter: trump even signed an executive order creating a 1776 commission with the goal of teaching patriotic education. >> frankly, that commission was just doubling up on the education that most of our kids recei receive, which is a fairly whitewashed education that is not really telling us an accurate depiction of our country. >> reporter: the 1619 project became linked with debate over critical race theory, or crt, a decades-old academic theory that argues racism has been built into the institutions of our nation and looks at racism through a systemic lens. >> people are saying critical

race theory, are really saying the teaching of racism and the history of racism. the 1619 project has gotten lumped in with that because it centers black americans and it centers slavery. the 1619 project is a work of journalism. it's not critical race theory. >> reporter: she does support teaching critical race theory in schools. what do you say to parents who say critical race theory is just a way to make white children feel guilty about the sins of the past? >> i don't know any educators that are telling white children that they are responsible for the sins of their ancestors. but we should collectively feel shame for slavery. it's not shame because that child is white, it's shame because that is a shameful part of our history. >> reporter: others took aim at her sourcing. sean willentz as pulitzer prize finalist and professor of history at princeton university. he and yellow historians wrote to "the new york times" saying

they were factual errors and mislead misleading facts. >> it stated one of the primary reason for the revolution was american colonists wanted to protect the institution of slavery which is not true. >> james somerset, a slave in virginia, went to great britain, asked for his freedom, a judge ruled in his favor. do you think that gives any validity, any credibility, to the point she's trying to make? >> no, that's been debunked. the idea the somerset case did anything to make american slave holders nervous about the possibility that britain was going to abolish slavery, that's absurd. >> reporter: hanna jones disputes that criticism. >> you can say, maybe i worded it more strongly than you would as a historian. but you can't say that there's no evidence to back up the claim. we peer reviewed that section with several historians of that era. and there are more than 1,000 end notes in this book.

consider the validity of the evidence. there's always going to be conflict. the point is you have to remain true to the actual historical record. if you're not doing that, you're doing something very pernicious. >> reporter: educators like chicago high school teacher rebecca k. did says the 1619 project is enriching student educations. >> you read the idea of america by nicole hanna jones, editor of the 1619 project. i want my students to think critically about the information they consume. to never accept anything as fact. the 1619 project to me was filling a gap that exists in the curriculum. >> reporter: the past two years she's used excerpts in her history and english classes. >> i was getting a perspective i'd never learned. >> reporter: her students have published their own edition of the "1619 project," examining issues plaguing their community in roger federerers park, chicago. >> i did an article on health

inequities. because we have a clinic in our school. showing how that can help communities and students get the proper care they need. >> the section i worked on was red lining. that really helped me understand how racism and racial discrimination is a real thing, and it happens in the u.s., even today. >> reporter: miss coven admits there were challenges. >> it's personal for a lot of students. there were times people walked out of the room, getting in arguments with each other. but it's the conversations that we had afterwards to repair harm, to process what had happened, that i think was a huge learning point for a lot of us. >> reporter: the students have even taken what they've learned to enact change. >> they have organized to remove police from our school. they have started the black lives matter week of action. they have seen through the "1619" project, i too can use my voice to not just identify injustices, but take action and

rally others around that action as well. >> reporter: last year, millions took action, protests erupting around the world following the death of george floyd, demanding justice and equality. >> do you feel that we are in a time of racial reckoning? or is this, as you describe in the book, the myth of racial progress? >> definitely, this is the myth of racial progress. we were at the cusp of reckoning. but it was very fleeting. what we are most comfortable with as americans is saying, yes, it was bad back then, but it's not like that anymore. and yes, we have inequality now, but one day in the future it's going to get better. then that alleviates us of the need to act. >> reporter: she says one way to help, financial reparations, cash payments from the federal government to descendents of the enslaved. >> my argument is, let's face up to the truth. collectively saying, we did a great wrong what do we do to make it right? >> you have an 11-year-old daughter. do you feel that in her

lifetime, she will see justice? >> is it possible that we can get a reparations bill passed in her lifetime? it's possible. will she know equality? no, i don't think so. give black people reparations and black people will still suffer from police violence, from discrimination in the housing market. but if black people did not have this gaping lack of wealth, they would be able to move into safer neighborhoods, to go to college without having the largest student loan debt all racial groups. >> reporter: after 402 years what many argue is inequality, hanna jones concedes the justice she seeks may be elusive, but that certainly is not stopping her from pursuing it. >> i have long studied the way that black women in particular who speak up against power, who dare challenge narratives, get treated. and i can tell you, i'm built for this. it's okay.

>> our thanks to linsey. now we want to update you on a story we reported last night. the groundbreaking civil suit against those who organized the 2017 unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia. 32-year-old heather heyer was killing, several injured, when a car driven by one of the defendants plowed into a group of counter protesters. today a federal jury awarded the plaintiffs more than $26 million in damages. alt-right leader richard spencer called the verdict flawed and vowed to appeal. up next, behind the scenes in "house of gucci." we hear from the all-star cast. s knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic® can help you get back in it. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! my zone... lowering my a1c, cv risk, and losing some weight... now, back to the game!

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♪ ridley scott's new film "house of guchi" packed with some of hollywood's biggest stars, telling the tale of one of world's famous families who built the iconic brand. abc's chris connelly met the cast. >> gucci. it was a name that sounded so sweet. so seductive. >> reporter: based on actual events, yes, really, director ridley scott's "house of gucci" fuses a famous italian fashion brand and succession-style family business intrigue. >> what game are you playing? >> ridley has all the space in the world for that magic, he feeds it like oxygen into fire. >> he uses a lot of opera. i felt the film was an opera. when people hate each other,

there's always a reason why they loved each other. >> reporter: the opera-sized emotions via an a-list cast making all the passions and plotting feel larger than life. >> i knew of the guccis. a really top-notch script. and i'm here in l.a. and the pandemic for a year and a half. >> were you losing your mind a little bit? >> no, that went a long time ago when. >> reporter: in her first film role since "a star is born" -- >> thank you so much! >> reporter: lady gaga says she's fully committed on many levels. >> father, son, and house of gucci. >> the story was something that spoke to me because of my italian heritage. i partook in a romance with patrice that i could not get out of. >> reporter: as al pacino's aldo gucci runs the business, patrice riggiani woos,

driver's character. >> she found him, she fell in love with him. it was 50% love and 50% what it could be. she led with her strength, she led with her love, she led with her power. >> you're drawn into a world you didn't expect to be in from love. >> yeah, that's what is attractive about him is that he follows his heart, and eventually he kind of becomes his own person, at least in his mind. and that's kind of his downfall. >> do you want to be left in the dust? >> reporter: bolstered by ambition, adam driver's mauricio finds his footing in the fashion world. his transformation is visible. >> there's big themes about being seduced by power. also knowing what you shouldn't be doing and doing it anyway. >> reporter: no such respect is coming for jared leto's hapless paolo gucci. >> paolo, you are gucci, you need to dress the part.

>> look, the film is very fun. it's exciting. it's obviously about a very serious and dysfunctional family. but at the same time, the characters have a lot of life, a lot of joy, a lot of laughter. >> before we were going to start to film, someone came up to me, looked me straight in the eye and said, "papa, papa." and i thought, oh-oh -- there's a crazy person on the set. and i thought, you know, it's italy. all of a sudden i heard, "help." it's jared. it was jared standing in front of me. i bowed to him. i said, "this is a genius, this is an inspiration." >> reporter: no stranger to portraying mercurial men atop powerful families, pacino has aldo gucci beam when he sees the

dynamic patrice, part of a tribute to the actress who plays her, he says. >> i'm glad you noticed that. yes. i did. i just connected with her. i understood somehow her life, her energy. >> why is she so compelling on screen, our young lady here? >> because she is -- i have to say it. she's a great actress. and that's all there is to it. >> how about for you, salma? you have a fascinating role in this. >> i loved her relationship with patrice. i think that pina, that she is psychic, she can see things, believe me or not. and i think that when she meets patrice, she's actually able to see that this woman has a great destiny. >> i see an abusive trust. an attempt to deceive you in your own house. you understand it? >> yes, pina.

>> reporter: salma hayek's psychic leads a spurned and heartbroken patrice to the movie's violent climax, ending this fashion fun house on a mournful note. >> maybe at the beginning pina, neapolitan people have a little bit of a reputation. but i think maybe she says, okay, this woman's going to come into money, this is going to serve me. but she ends up kind of really caring for her. >> reporter: there's more to "house of gucci" than sadness. >> i remember we did a scene together, and at one point you started singing "old man river" at the end. it didn't make it in the cut, but i remember -- remember that scene? >> i don't remember singing "old man river." >> you did, you sang "old man river." >> oh, that's good. >> patrice didn't know this song, after you said, do you know the song? i said, "i know the song but she doesn't know the song." >> i didn't know you'd bust out into "old man river." >> we're making an album together. >> that's next. >> i can't wait.

>> our thanks to chris. up next, look who's blasting off into space. he's one of abc's own. ♪ ♪it's a most unusual day♪ ♪feel like throwing my worries away♪

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♪

finally tonight, amazon's blue origins has announced the crew for their next space launch. and my "good morning america" colleague michael strahan was offered a seat. now he's in training, suiting up. >> fits like a glove. >> getting ready for the ride of a lifetime. >> we need to get good at going to space so that we can save the earth. it's true that we've got tons of problems here on earth, and we need to work on those in the here and now too. >> blasting off in just 16 days. that's "nightline" for this evening. thanks for the company, ersatio] -great party, carlene. you must have blown your budget. -not exactly. -you have great name-brand snacks, tons of meat... and where did you get this imported cheese? -hello! grocery outlet, bargain market. -♪ grocery outlet bargain market ♪ -with this holiday set to bust your wallet, your neighborhood grocery outlet is the destination