The Florida Board of Education on Wednesday gave the green light to a new set of standards for how Black history should be taught in the state’s public schools.
The curriculum was approved at the board’s meeting Wednesday in Orlando.
The move sparked criticism from education and civil rights advocates who argued for students’ right to learn the whole truth of American history.
Education Commissioner, Manny Diaz Jr., responded to accusations made by groups such as the Florida Education Association teachers union and the NAACP Florida State Conference.
These organizations suggested that the revised standards overlook or distort crucial historical facts about the Black experience and disregarded state legislation about necessary instruction.
In defending these standards, Diaz Jr. commended the workgroup responsible for formulating the curriculum, as well as the Department of Education’s African American History Task Force.
Diaz Jr. stated, “As age-appropriate, we go into some of the tougher subjects, all the way into the beginnings of the slave trade, Jim Crow laws, the civil-rights movement, and everything that occurred throughout our history.”
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Unpacking the new standards: From Kindergarten to High School
The latest standards, which cater to students from kindergarten through to high school, are intended to guide lesson content.
For instance, kindergarten standards highlight the need to educate students about significant historical figures like African American inventors and explorers such as Lonnie Johnson, Mae C. Jemison, and George Washington Carver.
High school students, on the other hand, are directed to elaborate on “the contributions of Africans to society, science, poetry, politics, oratory, literature, music, dance, Christianity and exploration in the United States from 1776-1865.”
Echoes of opposition: Critics voice concerns over new standards
However, the meeting on Wednesday had tension, as critics, including teachers and Democratic state lawmakers, implored the board to postpone the standards to allow for alterations.
Reports are that Carol Cleaver, an Escambia County science teacher, argued that the new standards provide an incomplete account.
“These new standards present only half the story and half the truth. When we name political figures who worked to end slavery but leave anyone who worked to keep slavery legal nameless, kids are forced to fill in the blanks for themselves,” Cleaver said.
Concerns were also raised by Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, about the new standards that require instruction for middle school students to include “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,”
Eskamani expressed that the notion that enslaved people benefited from being enslaved is inaccurate and a scary standard to establish in the educational curriculum.
Other state representatives, such as Rep. Rita Harris, D-Orlando, and Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Windermere, voiced their concerns regarding the standards.
The controversial inclusion of historic events: The case of the 1920 Ocoee Massacre
As high school students study historical events like the 1920 Ocoee massacre, the new guidelines stipulate that the teaching should include “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”
This massacre is recognized as the deadliest Election Day violence in U.S. history.
Several accounts suggest that the incident was triggered when Moses Norman, a prominent Black landowner in the Ocoee, Florida, community, attempted to cast his ballot and was turned away by White poll workers.
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement condemning the new standards: “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,” Johnson added.
The recent standards were established following the enactment of new state laws under Governor Ron DeSantis, prohibiting educational content that implies any racial or skin color-based privilege or oppression.
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