The Florida State Board of Education approved new rules Wednesday for how Black history will be taught in public schools that critics are decrying as a “step backward.”
The updated standards include noting that enslaved people developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit,” and that in teaching about mob violence against Black residents instructors should also note “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”
“These standards are a disservice to Florida’s students and are a big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994,” the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said in a statement.
The standards are the latest development in an ongoing debate in Florida over how Black history should be taught in school. Earlier this year, the education board rejected a new Advanced Placement high school course on African American studies, arguing it lacked “educational value.” Under Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s leadership, the state legislature also passed a law that forbids teachers from offering instruction that makes other students “feel guilt” because of actions committed by others in the past.
Education officials opened a public hearing in Orlando on Wednesday saying opponents to the new standards for teaching Black history were perpetuating “a false narrative.” Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said the state would continue to “teach the good, bad, and the ugly of American history” in an age-appropriate manner.
More than a dozen speakers at Tuesday’s board meeting opposed the changes, including state Sen. Geraldine Thompson (D), who helped pass a law in 2020 that requires schools to teach lessons about the Ocoee Massacre. The incident in 1920 began when several Black residents attempted to vote, and ended with at least as four and as many as 60 people dead, making it the deadliest instance of Election Day violence in U.S. history.
Thompson said the new standards amount to “blaming the victims.”
State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D) said she was concerned about inaccuracies in the new standards, including instructing that enslaved people “developed skills” that could be helpful.
“That is inaccurate and a scary standard for us to establish,” she said.
The board passed the new standards unanimously.
Last edited:
