Proposed Black history curriculum is balanced

I’ve long admired the work of Scott Maxwell, but found the July 26 piece on Florida’s Black History curriculum a bit narrow (“Florida teaches warped version of history”).

As a teacher, I’ve tried to present potentially sensitive topics with honesty and objectivity, always trying to explore many views including causes, logic, corroborations, reasons, beliefs and outcomes. This engages students’ thinking skills as they learn to sort out for themselves the tsunami of today’s information overload.

It’s significant that this curriculum was designed by Black history professors with the benefits of lifetime study of these issues. The work seems to balance an unfiltered view of evil and inhumane conditions during slavery, with what could be learned from the experience — both from those who experienced it and those who learned to regret their participation.

I’m reminded of Shakespeare’s “uses of adversity.” We’ve had to face history’s painful events from lion’s den to Inquisition to Holocaust and beyond — endless examples of man’s cruelty and inhumanity. We either learn from them, or personally climb out of them. After the Civil War, some Confederate leaders did not want to be honored with statues, but preferred to focus on unity and mending.

Trying to erase our past is futile; we’d never snare it all. We’ve been inspired by the resilience that has pulled humans out of poverty, war injuries, abuse and so much more.

So — it seems that this curriculum is balanced in showing the horrors of slavery and the resiliency of the human spirit as proved by including the powerful contributions of Black Americans.

Nan Williams, Winter Park