Florida's new Black history curriculum: 'Slaves developed skills' for 'personal benefit'
Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting Florida today to address the state's newly approved standards for teaching Black history in schools, which opponents say fail to paint the most accurate picture.
Those who have spoken out against the new social studies standards on African American history for kindergarten through 12th grade say the curriculum uses outdated language, victim blames Black communities and fails to address Florida's role in slavery and oppression.
Black communities say Gov. Ron DeSantis is targeting them and other groups by restricting discussions on race with legislation such as the "Stop WOKE Act."
Harris' visit to Jacksonville on Friday follows her visit to Indianapolis where she criticized states that are banning books in schools to prevent students "from learning our true history."
"Book bans in this year of our Lord, 2023!" Harris said.
The vice president called out Florida directly.
"They decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery," Harris said. "They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us and we will not stand for it!"
Groups accuse Florida Board of Education of rewriting or omitting 'key historical facts'
A letter sent to state Board of Education member Ben Gibson from a group of 11 organizations, including the NAACP and the Florida Education Association, says students deserve an accurate picture of the Black experience.
"We owe the next generation of scholars the opportunity to know the full unvarnished history of this state and country and all who contributed to it — good and bad," the letter states.
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Impact on elementary and middle school students
Students in kindergarten through 8th grade are not required to learn Black history past Reconstruction.
Reconstruction is the 12-year period after the Civil War that saw the United States struggle with reintegrating states that had seceded from the Union and determining the legal status of African Americans.
The middle school curriculum also includes a clarification: "Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
Impact on high school students
The new curriculum for students in grades 9 through 12, mentions learning about Reconstruction and beyond and includes studying, according to the first benchmark clarification, "the ramifications of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on individual freedoms (e.g., the Civil Rights Cases, Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, lynchings, Columbian Exposition of 1893)."
Critics such as Genesis Robinson, political director for advocacy group Equal Ground, said the curriculum only identifies and recognizes racism and prejudice and does not go into depth about how or who promoted the violence and disenfranchisement of Black people in the United States.
The second clarification states that instruction "includes acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans but is not limited to 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, 1919 Washington, D.C. Race Riot, 1920 Ocoee Massacre, 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the 1923 Rosewood Massacre."
The Ocoee Massacre is considered the largest incidence of voting-day violence in U.S. history, according to the Orange County Regional History Center.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida OKs new Black history curriculum; critics say facts left out
