“Ron DeSantis & Co. want us to believe slavery was a free training program,” cracked one critic.
Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams
Educators, historians, and civil rights leaders were among those who on Thursday condemned Florida’s new K-12 history curriculum as a “big step backward” for teaching that slavery gave African Americans beneficial “skills,” and for what critics argue is a disproportionate focus on Black-on-Black violence.
After more than an hour of what Florida Politics called “mostly oppositional” public comment, the Florida Board of Education on Wednesday adopted the new, 216-page guidelines for K-12 education.
In addition to teaching the superiority of U.S. capitalism compared with systems of “authoritarian control over the economy” like socialism and communism, the section on antebellum history states that “instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“How can our students ever be equipped for the future if they don’t have a full, honest picture of where we’ve come from?”
Additionally, in a state that saw Jim Crow-era atrocities including the Ocoee and Rosewood massacres and lynchings like the Newberry Six, the new curriculum says students should be taught about “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”
Florida state Sen. Geraldine Thompson (D-15)—who fought to include a lesson about the 1920 Ocoee massacre, in which a white mob murdered dozens of Black people trying to vote—toldThe Washington Post that the curriculum “suggests that the massacre was sparked by violence from African Americans. That’s blaming the victims.”
The Florida Education Association (FEA), the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement that “these standards are a disservice to Florida’s students and are a big step backward.”
Author, professor, and activist Ibram X. Kendi compared the tone of the new curriculum to enslavers who “defended slavery by claiming it was a ‘positive good’ for Black people.”
Democratic presidential candidate and author Marianne Williamson tweeted: “Minimizing slavery is as offensive as minimizing the Holocaust. We should never do it, and we shouldn’t be OK with Florida doing it either. It is a disservice to our ancestors, a disservice to our children, and a disservice to our future.”
Sari Beth Rosenberg, who teaches Advanced Placement U.S. History in New York, asserted that “slavery was not beneficial to enslaved people. Ever.”
“The fact that a fellow history teacher in Florida is now expected to teach that is asking that teacher to commit educational malpractice. It is forcing teachers to teach lies to their students,” she added. “It’s despicable and we need everyone with a platform and expertise to speak out about this.”
In a sarcastic tweet, Marvin Dunn—who specializes in Florida’s Black history—lamented that the new curriculum “requires the teaching of the benefits of enslavement for the slaves.”
“It also has a section on the benefits of having cancer,” he sarcastically added.
Mark Jacobs, an author and former Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times editor, quipped that “Ron DeSantis & Co. want us to believe slavery was a free training program,” a reference to Florida’s Republican governor, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr, a Republican, insisted that the curriculum “provides Florida students a robust knowledge of African American history.”
“If anyone takes the time to actually look at the standards, you can see that everything is covered,” he said at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting.
While serving in the state Legislature, Díaz was the primary sponsor of the so-called Stop WOKE Act, which was signed into law by DeSantis last year. The legislation prohibits classroom discussions or corporate training that make students or workers feel uneasy about their race in what critics say is an effort to whitewash and stop discussion about the history of a nation built on a foundation of genocide, slavery, imperialism, and enduring discrimination.
Last November, a federal judge blocked key provisions of the law, citing George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 in his ruling.
Earlier this year, the Florida Department of Education also drew widespread condemnation for banning a pilot Advanced Placement high school African American course that, according to DeSantis, “lacks educational value” and violates the Stop WOKE Act by allegedly promoting critical race theory (CRT).
There is little to no evidence that CRT—a graduate-level academic discipline examining systemic racism—is being taught in any K-12 school in Florida, or anywhere in the United States.
“How can our students ever be equipped for the future if they don’t have a full, honest picture of where we’ve come from?” FEA president Andrew Spar said in response to the new curriculum guidelines. “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,” he continued. “They deserve the full truth of American history, the good and the bad.”
