Florida's Board of Education on Wednesday approved controversial African American history standards. The move came despite requests from educators and policymakers that the standards be reconsidered to accurately reflect and be more inclusive of African American experiences.
The standards "provide our Florida students a robust depth of knowledge regarding the difficult circumstances overcome by African Americans and the vast contributions to the American story," said Paul Burns, chancellor of the division of public schools at the Florida Department of Education, at a Wednesday board meeting.
The new requirements implement the state's House Bill 7, which requires students learn history of the African diaspora and "develop an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on individual freedoms, and examine what it means to be a responsible and respectful person, for the purpose of encouraging tolerance of diversity." They take effect in August.
The standards were created by a working group, which received about 40 applicants and ultimately had 13 members — including nominees from Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. The group met regularly in early May to develop the standards, said Burns.
The standards include, but are not limited to:
- For elementary school (K-5) students: Identifying notable African American figures and their contributions to U.S. history, and examining life of early slaves in North America.
- For middle school (6-8) students: Understanding the "causes, courses and consequences" of the slave trade in the colonies, slave rebellions and resistance, and abolitionist movements.
- For high school (9-12) students: Examining the development and practice of slavery around the globe, the efforts of Founding Fathers to end or limit slavery in the U.S., roles of enslaved and freed African Americans in the Civil War, and Black lives during and after Reconstruction.
In reviewing the standards, Diaz commended "the depth and breadth of these standards" that include "the good, the bad and the ugly in American history."
"Anyone who can read these standards, you can see the topics that are covered are in depth and there is nothing that is left out," he said.
However, the majority of the Wednesday meeting's attendees who provided public comments on the standards disagreed.
Educators, including social studies teachers, said the standards were incomplete and called them "watered down," "Whitewashed" and "sterilized" versions of history.
Some objections posed included the standards not identifying "racism" by name, excluding some of the Founding Fathers' pro-slavery views, and claiming slaves incited violence during massacres.
“When you look at the history currently, it suggests that the [Ocoee] massacre was sparked by violence from African Americans. That's blaming the victim,” said state Sen. Geraldine Thompson, who is an emerita board member for the Commissioner of Education's African American History Task Force. The task force advised the creation of the standards.
Multiple commenters also called attention to a benchmark included in the standards that requires students to learn "how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
This concern is also shared by the Florida Education Association, which denounced the vote in a statement shared Wednesday.
However, Burns said some of these objections were "peddling really a false narrative."
"Our standards do not teach that slavery was beneficial. Our standards are factual," Burns said prior to the board's unanimous approval vote.
The standards' approval comes five months after the state Department of Education's debacle with the College Board, in which Florida leaders rejected a new AP African American Studies course for "lacking educational value." Diaz called it "woke indoctrination masquerading as education."
Multiple other states said they intended to follow Florida's suit in reviewing the course.
Florida's new African American history standards also come amid growing scrutiny over the state's controversial laws limiting discussions related to race and gender in the classroom, including the Stop WOKE Act passed last year.
Critics of that law — including many educators — said it and other policies heavily restrict how teachers approach race and gender in the classroom and have created a culture of fear among teachers.
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