The miseducation of Florida students about Black history
The debate about Black history, as taught in Florida schools, is misleading and conducted by many unaware of the actual content. The Black history outlined in the State Academic Standards is comprehensive and covers far more than one would imagine reading the headlines. It covers topics like the Black Codes and introduces many Black historical figures who fought for freedom before and after the Civil War. Florida mentions civil rights leaders like Harry T. and Harriette Moore.
Most of the focus has been on the wording that some slaves benefited from enslavement with no suggestion of the skills Africans brought with them. Critics have correctly slammed the idea that there was some net benefit from enslavement. As Republican Sen. Tim Scott said, there’s “no silver lining in slavery.”
There are glaring omissions from the guidelines. No mention of the Compromise of 1877 and Posse Comitatus the following year that ended Reconstruction. Those were the compromises where Republicans and Democrats decided to remove federal troops from the South and ensure they never returned to protect the newly freed. One of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first acts was to pardon the Groveland Four, yet they are absent from the guidelines. Is that a history too uncomfortable to teach?
What I find worse is the whitewashing of history.
The enslaved population in America increased dramatically over decades by what Florida refers to multiple times as “natural reproduction.” Florida can point to historians and government publications calling the phenomenon a “natural increase.” But other texts seem to confirm that that the increase was due to forced breeding and rape. Thomas Jefferson wrote to George Washington about the profitability of enslaved people. He encouraged him to invest in slaves, saying a woman producing a child every two years resulted in a 4% increase in profits. The end of the International Slave Trade in 1808 is often referred to in the guidelines as a gradual effort to end enslavement. In reality, it was a protectionist measure that increased the value of domestic-bred slaves, especially in states like Jefferson’s Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland, with excess slaves that they sold to Southern states with greater needs.
There is a constant drumbeat about the good intentions of the Founders, the Constitution, and abolitionists, suggesting America always intended to eliminate enslavement; one segment lays the blame on King George. There’s no mention of where America deviated from British law by implementing Partus Sequitur Ventrem, which made every child of an enslaved woman a slave as well, eliminating any responsibility for the father and opening the door for the aforementioned forced breeding and rape.
I imagined I’d seen the worst before Florida approved materials from PragerU for classrooms. The five-minute videos include an animated Frederick Douglass, not approving of slavery but understanding it was a necessary compromise. The real Frederick Douglass called slavery “the great sin of America” in his speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” PragerU is not a university but the product of a former rightwing radio host. Other videos from PragerU include Why I Left the Left; War on Boys; Woke to Broke; The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party; Russian Collusion and the Death of Journalism; The Truth About Gender Affirming Care; and Why Do You Hate Conservatives. Dennis Prager acknowledges that what he does is indoctrination; he doesn’t see the harm, and neither does Florida.
Gov. DeSantis has based his political future on being anti-woke and having a lock on what gets taught in Florida schools. The Republican supermajority Florida Legislature is afraid to challenge him, and political appointee Manny Diaz, who heads the Florida Department of Education, backed out of a town hall meeting with Black parents in Miami Gardens after previously confirming. Teaching the truth is important enough that all parents should join together and demand more of the Florida education system. If that means voting out politicians who promote propaganda, so be it.
Teaching the truth is important enough that all parents should join together and demand more of the Florida education system. If that means voting out politicians who promote propaganda, so be it.