The Florida African American History Task Force plays a crucial role in shaping how Black history is taught in the state's public schools. The Task Force has been at the center of discussions and controversies surrounding the teaching of African American history in Florida. Since 1994, Florida state law has required instruction of African American history in public schools.
Florida State Capitol Building in Tallahassee.
Early Years and Formation
Nearly three decades ago, Florida passed a landmark measure requiring that Black history be taught in its public schools. “Knowledge is the antidote to the poison of prejudice,” Gov. Lawton Chiles (D) said as he signed the legislation. The law created a special volunteer task force to continuously guide implementation.
In 1994, Frederica S. Wilson, then a legislator, spearheaded the effort to mandate the teaching of Black history in Florida schools. Schools could offer African American history as an elective, but there was no mandate. That’s when I started my mission to make it a mandate.
The history of African Americans, including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the enslavement experience, abolition, and the history and contributions of Americans of the African diaspora to society.
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Instructional materials shall include the vital contributions of African Americans to build and strengthen American society and celebrate the inspirational stories of African Americans who prospered, even in the most difficult circumstances. Students shall develop an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on individual freedoms, and examine what it means to be a responsible and respectful person, for the purpose of encouraging tolerance of diversity in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic values and institutions. Instruction shall include the roles and contributions of individuals from all walks of life and their endeavors to learn and thrive throughout history as artists, scientists, educators, businesspeople, influential thinkers, members of the faith community, and political and governmental leaders and the courageous steps they took to fulfill the promise of democracy and unite the nation.
Changes and Controversies
That’s when Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) began to fundamentally remake how the state would teach Black history. Veteran members of the African American History Task Force were not consulted.
In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 7 into law which restricts how topics of race can be discussed in K-12 classrooms. DeSantis signed legislation prohibiting lessons that might make students feel guilty about their race.
The Florida state board of education approved new African American history standards for grades K-12 that are drawing national criticism for the framing of certain topics, including descriptions of slavery, and the exclusion of others. The new standards expand on pre-existing ones, adding several more for the elementary and middle school grades.
One of the most widely criticized standards requires teachers to teach middle school students that under enslavement, some African Americans gained skills that later benefitted them. The new standards-approved earlier this month-are meant to be in place for the coming school year, according to a spokesperson for the state department of education. Teachers have the option to attend a virtual training on August 7 where the standards will be reviewed.
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Critics of the new standards expressed concerns over various choices, from a “massive watering down” in elementary grade standards, to an incomplete curriculum for high school, said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union with just under 150,000 members, many of whom expressed concerns.
Some of this back and forth over the standards isn’t new. The new standards’ framing around the continent of Africa-specifically with respect to slavery-is also not new, King said, arguing that it was the most political choice in the new standards.
“They’re trying to infer the institution of slavery as a global phenomenon. part in slavery really wasn’t that bad,” King said. “It’s not like the entire program is wrong, or there’s not factual things in there,” he added. “It’s just the way in which those standards are written that makes the narrative incomplete.”
Spar, with the teachers’ union, says teachers remain confused over how to proceed with the new standards. “Teachers in Florida have a code of ethics they must follow. That code of ethics includes teaching the standards, and it includes being honest and ethical in all dealings,” Spar said. “If you teach standards that you do not believe are ethical and honest in their dealings, are you then violating the code of ethics?
Voices of the Task Force Members
As a year of intense rancor draws to a close, The Washington Post talked to four people deeply involved with the task force about how they have lived Black history in Florida and what it has meant for their voices to be sidelined.
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Donna Austin
Donna Austin, 65, is the chief executive of a Tallahassee-based education consulting firm. She joined the Florida African American History Task Force in 2019. I became an educator and wanted to help students learn our real history. I joined the task force because I thought that would be a good way to help teachers throughout the state to integrate African American history into their lessons.
When they came out with the new history standards, the DeSantis people completely bypassed [the long-standing task force members]. I had no idea in my lifetime that I would be subjected to the level of disrespect that we are being subjected to now. They want to teach that slavery had a benefit? That makes me so upset. We’re moving backwards instead of moving forward.
I don’t know if DeSantis understands, or if he even cares, that when he’s attacking our history, he’s attacking everyone. The vast majority of our society is so intertwined, he’s doing an injustice to the citizens of Florida, period. I’m still on the task force, but I haven’t heard anything about it or for months; it’s been crickets. And I’m extremely frustrated. You have to get up every day and put out fires, because there’s one fire here, and then another fire and another fire.
Frederica S. Wilson
Wilson, 81, is a Democratic congresswoman from Miami whose first elective office was on the local school board. She is a founding member of the Florida African American History Task Force. As a teacher and a school principal, I made sure my kids, the students in my school, knew Black history. Every child in my school knew “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” And on the flip side, all of the children knew how to say the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish. That’s the kind of school I had.
When I got to the legislature, I went full force on teaching Black history. For a book to be purchased with state funds, it had to include the history of African Americans, Hispanics and women. Trust me, I had a game plan. It was controversial, and I knew we’d have to work for it every year.
I think we can give Mr. DeSantis credit for waking up African Americans of this nation by shining a light on the fact that Black history is not taught the way it should be. People say to stay woke; well, he woke us up. I don’t think that’s what he was trying to do, but what he was trying to do backfired. Nobody was even thinking about African American history until he started all this. But now Black people are saying, “We’ve got to teach it, we’ve got learn it, we’ve got to preserve it.”
Samuel Wright
Wright, 70, was the first Black elected official on the Boynton Beach City Council. Wright served on the Boynton Beach City Council in Florida in the early 1980s. At the University of South Florida, I saw just how much people don’t know about Black history. I wanted to make sure that boys and girls are exposed to the fact that Black folks weren’t just slaves. We were educated, we made a tremendous difference. So many monuments and other things built in the United States were made by Black hands.
When I was invited to join the task force, I thought it was a good thing because we need to expose students to that history. This year, when I saw what the governor did to the task force, the people put in there and the changes they were making, I could no longer be a part of that.
We never wanted to make White kids feel inferior or bad about slavery. We just wanted to illuminate the contributions of African Americans in this country and also, before the slave trade, what they did in Africa. DeSantis put his supporters on the task force, and they followed him, and I feel like they disrespected all of us who have been trying for years to have the full Black history taught. To teach that slavery might have had benefits for the enslaved? That’s unconscionable.
Geraldine Thompson
Thompson, 75, is a Democratic state senator from the Orlando area, a member of the Florida African American History Task Force and the founder of the Well’sBuilt Museum of African American History and Culture. She began her career as a teacher, then served for 24 years as the director of Valencia College’s equal opportunity office. The Well’sBuilt Hotel was built in Orlando in the 1920s - the one place that would provide lodging to African Americans when they traveled to Central Florida.
Florida's African American History Task Force to meet Monday amid controversy over curriculum
School tours all want to come in February for African American history month. It’s like when I would talk to people throughout the state about teaching Black history, I would hear, “We celebrate Doctor King’s birthday.” They felt that satisfied the law regarding teaching African American history. But a celebration is hardly instruction. The history and facts are just as relevant in September as they are in February.
We on the task force worked to come up with the curriculum, with lesson plans and learning activities, so there could be no excuse about what to teach. There’s been a lot of hypocrisy in the state to have this law on the books for almost 30 years but there are no consequences if the instruction isn’t provided.
Recently, that changed. The state of Florida rejected the AP African American studies course, with officials saying that African American history has no educational value. It lit a fire under people. It validates the belief I have had for decades: We must all work to make sure that history is part and parcel of American history.
Future of the Task Force and Museum
On May 11, 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law CS/CS/HB 1441 (Chapter 2023-72, Laws of Florida) relating to a Florida Museum of Black History Task Force. One of the goals of the Task Force is to recommend to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives a location for the museum. To facilitate that decision-making process, local advocacy groups have prepared proposals highlighting the advantages of their regions. St. The Task Force collected public comments to inform its recommendations for the future Florida Museum of Black History. In addition to receiving public comments during its meetings, as well as comments from professionals and scholars, the Task Force directed Department staff to develop a survey for distribution to Florida residents and visitors.
Before July 1, 2024, the task force will submit a report detailing its plans and recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
The report will include the following:
- Plans for the location, design, and construction of the museum.
- Recommendations for the operation and administration of the museum.
- A marketing plan to promote the museum.
- A transition plan for the museum to become financially self-sufficient.
The report will also cover the following historical elements:
- The role of African-American participation in defending and preserving Florida and the United States, including the contributions of the residents of Fort Mose, the Tuskegee Airmen, and all African-American veterans.
- The history of slavery in the state.
- The history of segregation in the state.
- Notable African Americans in the state.
- Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, including the founding of Bethune Cookman University.
- The history of historically black colleges and universities in this state.
The Tuskegee Airmen, whose contributions are to be highlighted by the report.
