This week, The New York Times launched its '1619' Project to observe the 400th anniversary of slavery's beginnings in America. The series includes reported essays and other pieces that demonstrate how slavery — and the racial discrimination that followed — has shaped every aspect of modern life, from health care to public transportation.  

According to Jake Silverstein, editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine, correspondent Nikole Hannah-Jones proposed the idea in January. At first, it was to be for a special issue that would recast the nation's birthdate as Aug. 20, 1619 — the day the first slave ship arrived on the country's shores. But as more and more ideas emerged, the staff quickly realized that one issue of the magazine could not contain all of the content. Soon, the project spilled over to the Times proper, its podcasts and its website. 

"I think there will be some discomfort in the idea of that reflection that you see back may not be as pretty as the picture you've been given your entire life," said Trymaine Lee, a Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy Award-winning correspondent for MSNBC who contributed an essay to the project. "But for many people of us who have contributed to the project, we are black people in America who have lived this, whose families have lived this." 

Listen to Jami Floyd's entire conversation with Lee and Silverstein.