Q&A of the Day – What Actually Changed with Florida’s Black History Curriculum
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Today’s Entry: Hi Brian, Love your show and how you cut through the lies and explain the facts. I’ve read a lot of opinions on Florida’s new Black history education in schools but can you please break it down? Thanks for all you do!
Bottom Line: Last Wednesdays’ Florida Board of Education meeting to approve new rules for the 2023-2024 school year included a series of changes which were brought about by changes with new laws which took effect July 1st. The annual meeting is also where any adjustments to the curriculum for the upcoming school year are finalized. What’s called into question are the approved Florida State Academic Standards for Social Studies, 2023. Within the 216-page framework are 11 different strands which fall under the Social Studies heading. Those 11 are: African American History, Civics and Government, Holocaust Education, Financial Literacy, American History, World History, Humanities, Psychology, Geography, Economics and Sociology. What’s been called into question by critics of the just approved academic standards are tenants of the African American History Strand. I’ll start by breaking down how the material is to be presented.
There’s to be a focus on all of these different aspects of African American history:
- Positive influences and contributions by African Americans: Recognize African American inventors and explorers (i.e., Lonnie Johnson [inventor], Mae C. Jemison, George Washington Carver).
- Positive influences and contributions by African Americans: Identify African American artists (i.e., Aretha Franklin, Charles White [Abraham Lincoln portrait], James Earl Jones, Maya Angelou).
- Positive influences and contributions by African Americans: Identify African Americans who demonstrated civic service (i.e., Secretary of State Colin Powell, Civil Air Patrol [CAP] Lt. Willa Beatrice Brown, Carter G. Woodson, Senator Hiram Revels). Identify oral traditions and folktales of African Americans (e.g., Anansi the Spider, Tale of the Midnight Goat Thief). Identify African Americans who demonstrated heroism and patriotism (e.g., Booker T. Washington, Jesse Owens, Tuskegee Airmen, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, President Barack Obama, 1st Lt. Vernon Baker, Sgt. 1st Class Melvin Morris). Identify African American community leaders who made positive contributions in the state of Florida (e.g., Zora Neale Hurston, Florida Highwaymen, Mary McLeod Bethune, Evan B. Forde, Bessie Coleman, Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James, Bob Hayes, Sylvia Fowles)
- Resiliency, contributions and influence of African Americans on the United States beginning in the colonial era through westward expansion: Examine the life of African Americans in the colonial era: Instruction includes what life was like for the earliest slaves and the emancipated in North America. Examine the Underground Railroad and how former slaves partnered with other free people and groups in assisting those escaping from slavery. Examine key figures and events in abolitionist movements. Identify freedoms and rights secured for and by former slaves. Examine the roles and contributions of significant African Americans during westward expansion (e.g., Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, James Beckwourth, Buffalo Soldiers, York [American explorer]). Examine the experiences and contributions of African Americans in early Florida.
- Understand the causes, courses and consequences of the slave trade in the colonies.
- Analyze events that involved or affected Africans from the founding of the nation through Reconstruction.
- Examine the causes, courses and consequences of the slave trade in the colonies from 1609-1776.
- Analyze events that involved or affected African descendants and changed the American economic, political and social landscapes between 1776-1865.
- Identify significant events, figures and contributions that shaped African American life from 1865-1954.
- Analyze economic, political, legal and social advancements of African Americans and their contributions and sacrifices to American life from 1954 to present, including factors that influenced them.
That is the synopsis for Florida’s newly ratified African American studies curriculum. In general, I’d challenge anyone to find issue with the breadth and the depth of the educational curriculum. The first issue raised by critics is in the inclusion of this directive under the heading of: Describe the emergence, growth, destruction and rebuilding of black communities during Reconstruction and beyond. There are three “Benchmark Clarifications” for this section – which indicates updates to the curriculum on related subject matter. The one which has been called into question is the 2nd which states: 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. What critics are upset about is the language “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans” in those historical events. They want the focus to solely be on injustices against those of color as opposed to any which were carried out by those of color during those events.
The second area of contention by critics comes under this heading: Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation). The Benchmark Clarification or change for the upcoming school year is this:
- Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.
Without additional context that one may sound questionable at best. The implication there, which some have taken liberties with like the NAACP or the Vice President of the United States, is that it’s spin to attempt to perhaps suggest slavery wasn’t all bad. In reality, that’s not the context. To illustrate the example, I’ll direct you to PBS’s “Conditions of antebellum slavery”. As part of PBS’s presentation, they state: Many enslaved people developed and passed down skills which allowed them to supplement their poor diet and inadequate medical care with hunting, fishing, gathering wild food, and herbal medicines. There, the adults taught their children how to hide their feelings to escape punishment and to be skeptical of anything a white person said.
As always context is key. Interestingly, PBS’s presentation/documentary on the Conditions of antebellum slavery specifically highlights how “enslaved people developed and passed down skills” which is nearly identical to the Florida Department of Education’s: Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit. So why is it ok when PBS depicts and teaches this but not the state of Florida?
That’s the breakdown of what’s called into question and the facts pertaining to each. As always there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. I’ve reported, you can decide what you think about it. At a minimum though, there’s apparent hypocrisy involved in the condemnation brought by many.