New Florida history curriculum outrages, historians, civil society
TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Civil society activists and educators have condemned Florida’s new K-12 curriculum for presenting a distorted view of history.
The curriculum includes sections that suggest slavery was beneficial to Blacks, such as developing skills for personal gain.
Critics argue that this approach ignores the severe and lasting damage caused by slavery. The curriculum is also criticized for downplaying violence against African Americans, including atrocities during the Jim Crow era.
Prominent figures expressed concern that teaching a distorted version of history does not give students an accurate picture of the country’s past.
Defending the curriculum, Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Díaz Jr. claimed that it provides a comprehensive understanding of African American history.
Florida State Senator Geraldine Thompson pointed to an example of bias, saying a lesson about the 1920 Ocoee Massacre, in which a white mob murdered dozens of blacks, was blamed on African Americans.
The Florida Education Association (FEA), the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement that “these standards do a disservice to Florida students and represent a huge step backward”
According to experts, this controversy is part of a broader context in which some states, including Florida, are seeing efforts to ban discussions of racial issues.
The curriculum also mentions superiority of U.S. capitalism compared with systems of “authoritarian control over the economy” like socialism and communism.
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.”
Earlier this year, the Florida banned African American course that, according to Governor DeSantis, “lacks educational value” and was allegedly promoting race theory.
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