TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Department of Education is defending newly approved standards for teaching African American history in Florida schools, despite facing further criticism from Vice President Kamala Harris and other prominent voices this week.
“It’s sad to see critics attempt to discredit what any unbiased observer would conclude to be in-depth and comprehensive African American History standards," Florida Department of Education Director of Communications Alex Lanfranconi said. "They incorporate all components of African American History: the good, the bad and the ugly."
The criticism comes in part because the new curriculum includes instructions for middle schoolers to learn “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“It’s unheard of, it’s unconscionable, it’s absurd and it’s ridiculous,” Dr. Samuel Wright, the former vice chair of the state’s African American Task Force, said. He resigned after a slate of new members was appointed last month.
“It was involuntary to be a slave, how could they even dare educate children in the state of Florida about that nonsense,” Wright added.
The new standards have also been criticized by the Florida Education Association Union and the NAACP who said in part “actions by the Florida state government are an attempt to bring our country back to a 19th century America where Black life was not valued, nor our rights protected.”
The Department of Education is defending the board’s decision to adopt the standards, which they say were crafted by a workgroup made up of 13 educators and academics.
Two of those workgroup members, Dr. William Allen and Dr. Frances Presley Rice, provided a statement to 10 Tampa Bay, saying in part, “The intent of this particular benchmark clarification is to show that some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefitted. This is factual and well documented.”
They added, “Any attempt to reduce slaves to just victims of oppression fails to recognize their strength, courage and resiliency during a difficult time in American history. Florida students deserve to learn how slaves took advantage of whatever circumstances they were in to benefit themselves and the community of African descendants."
Though some standards are not taking effect immediately, some groups are calling for the board to reconsider its implementation.
“The adoption of the Florida State Academic standards for social studies by the Florida Board of Education not only purposefully omits or rewrites key historical facts about the Black experience, but they ignore the legislative intent of Florida Statute 1003.42,” Equal Ground Political Director Genesis Robinson said.
To read the full set of standards, click here.