The Florida State Board of Education approved a new K-12 African American history curriculum that says Black people benefited from slavery because it taught them skills.
The middle school curriculum require that instruction “includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” according to The Tallahassee Democrat.
Community members slammed the board at Wednesday’s meeting for trying to whitewash history and Florida’s role in slavery.
“Please table this rule and revise it to make sure that my history our history is being told factually and completely, and please do not, for the love of God, tell kids that slavery was beneficial because I guarantee you it most certainly was not,” one community member said.
But, teaching students that slavery was beneficial to Black people was not the only issue community members and teachers have with the new curriculum.
When learning about the Ocoee massacre in high school the curriculum require that instruction “includes acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans,” which critics say victim blames Black communities.
The Ocoee Massacre, which occurred in the town of Ocoee, Florida in November 1920, was the largest election-related massacre in the 20th Century according to Blackpast. In the national elections on November 2, Mose Norman, a Black farmer, tried to vote and was turned away twice. Later that night a mob of white men hunted him down at his friend’s, Julius ‘July’ Perry, home. Norman escape but Perry, who killed two white men while defending this home, was lynched. Approximately 50 other Black community members were killed and their homes burned to the ground. Most of the Black community was forced to leave Ocoee after the massacre.
“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,” Sen. Geraldine Thompson (D, Orlando) said.
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. defended the curriculum calling it “robust”, “age-appropriate” and inclusive of “slave trade, Jim Crow laws, civil rights, civil rights movement and everything that occurred throughout our history,” Florida Politics reported.
“If anyone takes the time to actually look at the standards, you can seen that everything is covered,” he added.
“Our standards are factual, objective standards that really teaches the good, the bad and the ugly,” Paul Burns the Chancellor of K-12 public schools said.
