Florida’s new Black history standards for K-12 students stretch 5,650 words over 19 pages. It is, by any balanced account, a thoroughgoing study of the African American experience in the New World.
By the time they have achieved graduation, Florida’s young scholars will have learned — among a vast number of other pertinent concepts — about:
- The roots and horrors of the Atlantic slave trade.
- Colonial slave uprisings.
- The service and sacrifice of Black patriots during the Revolutionary Era.
- The significance of the Underground Railroad, including the collaborative role undertaken by the Seminole tribe in Florida.
- Contributions of abolitionists.
- Uplifting influence of Black Americans on U.S. culture dating to 1776.
- The pivotal role of Black slavery in the Civil War.
- The heroism of Black soldiers, spies, nurses and slaves in the Civil War.
- The successes and imperfections of Reconstruction.
- Post-Reconstruction Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, lynchings.
- The role Black philosophers, inventors, authors, artists, activists and statesmen played in shaping U.S. history.
- World War II and integration.
- And the advancements and challenges for African Americans during the modern Civil Rights Era.
Again, that’s a mere sample. For the deep divers among you, here’s the entirety of Florida’s State Academic Standards for Social Studies.
Defenders of the committee’s work expressed confidence in the detail and balance presented in the freshly approved standards.
“Everything is there,” said MaryLynn Magar, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Ron DeSantis this spring. “The darkest parts of our history are addressed, and I’m very proud of the task force. I can confidently say that the DOE and the task force believe that African American history is American history, and that’s represented in those standards.”
You would not know that if your information were limited to the garment-rending — bordering on comical — outrage that was primed and ready to go the moment the standards were adopted in Tallahassee Wednesday.
Critics’ displeasure collects under the umbrella of complaint signed by the Usual Suspects.
Opponents say the curriculum leaves out Florida’s role in slavery and the oppression of African Americans, victim blames Black communities and uses outdated language.
In a letter to board member Ben Gibson, a group of 11 organizations, including the NAACP and the Florida Education Association, criticized the state for omitting or rewriting “key historical facts about the Black experience.”
Their gripe focuses primarily on two topics alleged to be controversial. Here’s the one that rises to the top:
Florida’s public schools will now teach students that some Black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills, part of new African American history standards approved Wednesday that were blasted by a state teachers’ union as a “step backward.”
The Florida State Board of Education’s new standards includes controversial language about how “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” according to a 216-page document about the state’s 2023 standards in social studies, posted by the Florida Department of Education.
We commend to the distressed the fourth night of Roots, the epic, mold-breaking miniseries that no one, ever, confused with an endorsement of white supremacy. Yes, it’s anecdotal: Enslaved Tom, great grandson of the kidnapped Kunta Kinte, enjoyed a certain amount of influence as a master blacksmith. Alex Haley has been charged with making up a lot of stuff, but understating his ancestors’ hardships is not among them. Would historic and resourceful Tom represent “in some instances”?
Wait. There’s more supporting evidence from William Allen and Frances Presley Price, Ph.Ds who served on the history standards workgroup.
Want the truth on Florida’s African American History Standards? See statement below from experts who crafted them.
“Any attempt to reduce slaves to just victims of oppression fails to recognize their strength, courage and resiliency during a difficult time in American history.” pic.twitter.com/7pR8GBFu2l
— Alex Lanfranconi (@AlexLanfran) July 20, 2023
The other grievance embraces the aforementioned “victim-blaming.” Students will learn about early 20th century racial clashes perpetrated both “against and by African Americans.”
This is bad to teach only if you are utterly committed to the fantasy that an entire race of Americans routinely succumbed to atrocities without the wherewithal to strike back, or even strike preemptively. It is yet another Gen Z conceit to imagine the Black Lives Matter movement launched in their lifetimes.
Nonetheless, the knives are out for the new Florida standards, not least because they reflect the disposition of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a stubborn No. 2 in the race for the GOP presidential nomination and the only Republican who thumps Joe Biden in election-deciding swing states.
So of course Vice President Kamala “Word Salad” Harris has been sicced on the Florida standards, sharing her selective, partisan and wildly inaccurate opinions for friendly audiences in Indianapolis Thursday and Jacksonville Friday.
Kamala Harris: “In the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery!”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 20, 2023
“Speaking of our children, extremists pass book bans to prevent them from learning our true history — book bans in this year of our Lord 2023. And while they do this, check it out, they push forward revisionist history,” Harris said. “Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.”
This is absolute hooey wrapped in crockery served up on demagoguery, as demonstrated by the areas of study listed above, confirmed by any equitable reading of the full standards as published, and aptly defended by the good doctors Allen and Rice.
But we’re in the early stages of election season, which means inconvenient truths will not be tolerated by The Other Side. Which means, once again, it’s up to the candidate and other fact-seekers to hold them accountable.
Democrats like Kamala Harris have to lie about Florida's educational standards to cover for their agenda of indoctrinating students and pushing sexual topics onto children.
Florida stands in their way and we will continue to expose their agenda and their lies.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) July 21, 2023
What DeSantis said. Words to live by.
