Florida Black History Curriculum Teaches ‘Benefits’ of Slavery

What's the story?

• The Florida Board of Education has approved new standards for teaching African American history, which civil rights advocates have condemned as obscuring the "full truth" of slavery and race-based violence. The Board approved the curriculum last week during their meeting in Orlando.
• The new curriculum standards require middle school students to learn

"[H]ow slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

• Asked how teachers are going to instruct students on the "benefits" of slavery, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told reporters:

“They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life."

What else is in the new curriculum?

• For lessons on the 1920 Ocoee massacre, when a white mob attacked and murdered dozens of black citizens to prevent them from voting, the new rules require that teachers discuss acts of violence perpetrated by African Americans.
• The curriculum also focuses on violence committed by both sides in lessons on the Atlanta, Tulsa, and Rosewood race massacres.
• Florida Sen. Geraldine Thompson (D) has stated that the new curriculum's focus on violence perpetrated by African Americans is an example of victim blaming.

An ongoing battle

• The guidelines follow the state requirements that lessons on race be taught in an "objective" manner that does not "indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view."
• The new curriculum standards are the latest development in the ongoing debates on African-American history in Florida. DeSantis previously passed legislation fighting "wokeness" in schools and barred instruction on race-based privilege and oppression.

What people are saying

• Derrick Johnson, CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said:

"Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice, and the equity our ancestors shed blood, sweat, and tears for. It is imperative that we understand that the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow were a violation of human rights and represent the darkest period in American history."

• Alex Lanfranconi, from the Florida Department of Education, defended the curriculum:

"It's sad to see critics attempt to discredit what any unbiased observer would conclude to be in-depth and comprehensive African American History standards. They incorporate all components of African American History: the good, the bad and the ugly."

• Andrew Spar, from the Florida Education Association union, said:

"Florida's students deserve a world-class education that equips them to be successful adults who can help heal our nation's divisions rather than deepen them. Gov. DeSantis is pursuing a political agenda guaranteed to set good people against one another, and in the process, he's cheating our kids. They deserve the full truth of American history, the good and the bad."

Do you support the new curriculum?

—Emma Kansiz 

(Photo Credit: Canva)