JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Department of Education and Gov. Ron DeSantis are facing backlash for new standards for teaching Black history. National and state civil rights leaders are calling the new curriculum reckless saying students will be taught that Blacks benefited from slavery.
THE QUESTION:
Does Florida's new education standards teach that slaves benefitted from their captivity?
THE SOURCES:
- Florida's State Academic Standards - Social Studies 2023
- Florida Department of Education
THE ANSWER
WHAT WE FOUND
The section of the 216-page 2023 social studies standards drawing the most ire around the country includes controversial language stating that "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
Vice President Kamala Harris took issue with the new standards during her visit to Jacksonville on Friday. "These extremist so-called leaders should model what we know to be the correct and right approach if we really are invested in the wellbeing of our children," she said addressing a crowd of supporters at the Ritz Theater & Museum in the LaVilla neighborhood. "Instead they dare to push propaganda to our children. ... Adults know what slavery really involved. It involved rape. It involved torture. It involved taking a baby from their mother. It involved some of the worse examples of depriving people of humanity in our world. In the context of that, how could anyone suggest that in the midst of these atrocities, there was any benefit to begin subjected to this level of dehumanization?"
Over the weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to Harris' comments and critics of the new standards.
"These are the most robust standards for African-American history probably anywhere in the country," he said. "Anyone who reads that will know it's very thorough, very factual and for them to try to demagogue it, that may have worked in the past, but nobody is buying their nonsense anymore."
State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, is calling for Board of Education Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr. to step down. "Some of what is being encourage to be taught are flat-out lies, including the idea that slaves actually benefited from slavery, that perhaps the benefit of gaining a trade such as being a blacksmith might be outweighed by the horrors of slavery," she said. "It cannot be taught in our schools, and we should demand that Manny Díaz Jr. steps down so that there's some accountability."