TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Between Florida’s manicured golf courses and sprawling suburbs are long-lost graveyards of enslaved people and Confederate soldiers still guarding the town square. statue, an old plantation transformed into a modern subdivision with the same name. But many students don’t learn that kind of Black history in Florida classrooms.
In an old wooden bungalow in Delray Beach, Charlene Farrington and her staff gather groups of teenagers on Saturday mornings and teach them lessons they fear public schools can’t provide. They discuss South Florida’s Caribbean roots, the state’s dark history of lynching, how racism continues to shape the landscape, and how grassroots activists helped shape the civil rights movement. He tells the story of how he mobilized people to break generations of oppression.
“We need to know how it happened before so we can decide how we want it to happen again,” he says, sitting at his desk as the morning light illuminates historic photos on the wall. She told the students as she sat down.
Florida students are giving up their Saturday mornings to learn about African American history at the Spadi Cultural Heritage Museum in Delray Beach and similar programs at community centers across the state. Many are supported by black churches, which have helped shape the cultural and political identity of their parishioners for generations.
Since Faith of Florida developed its own Black History Toolkit last year, more than 400 congregations have committed to teaching the lessons, the advocacy group said.
Although Florida has required public schools to teach African American history for the past 30 years, many families no longer trust the state’s education system to adequately address the subject.
According to the state’s own metrics, just over a dozen Florida school districts incorporate Black history education content throughout the school year and provide evidence of buy-in from school boards and community partners. , demonstrating the excellence of black history education.
School district officials across Florida told The Associated Press that the state remains committed to teaching about the experiences of enslavement and emancipation and the “important contributions of African Americans to building and strengthening American society.” He said he was following it.
However, a common complaint from students and parents is that the instruction appears to be limited to heroic figures such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, and that the instruction appears to be limited to heroic figures such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, and that the guidance is limited to Black History Month in February each year. It is said that it rarely extends beyond that.
When Suraya Williams’ oldest son started school, she couldn’t find the comprehensive instruction she wanted locally. So in 2016, she started her own organization to teach Black history in the community.
“We wanted kids to know our story and to tell it to kids,” Williams said.
Williams is currently contracted to teach Saturday school at the Fort Lauderdale Public Library, and her 12-year-old daughter, Ada Gordon, is inviting her classmates to come along.
“I feel like I’m really learning about my culture. It’s like I’m learning what my ancestors did,” Ada said. “And most people don’t know what they did.”
Black History Duty has come at the time of redemption.
The state Legislature unanimously approved an African American history requirement in 1994 during Florida’s history atonement.
Historians commissioned by the state have just released their official report on the deadly 1923 attack on the town of Rosewood, in which a white mob destroyed the majority black community and displaced its residents. Ta. When the Florida Legislature approved financial compensation for Rosewood survivors and descendants in 1994, it was seen as a model for national reparations.
“Decades ago, Florida had a moment of enlightenment. It really did,” said Marvin Dunn, author of multiple books about Black Floridians. “But it was short-lived.”
Thirty years later, the teaching of African American history remains inconsistent across Florida classrooms and inadequate in the eyes of some advocates, and efforts to limit race, history, and discrimination This has drawn criticism from the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has defended the administration. It may even become a hot topic in the state’s public schools.
Mr. DeSantis led an attack on “wokeness” in education, rallying conservatives across the country, including President-elect Donald Trump. In 2022, governors will restrict certain race-based conversations in schools and businesses and prohibit teaching that members of one ethnic group should feel guilty or responsible for the actions of previous generations. signed into law.
Last year, the DeSantis administration blocked a new Advanced Placement course in African American studies from being taught in Florida, saying it violated state law and was historically inaccurate.
A spokesperson for the College Board, which oversees Advanced Placement courses, told the AP that she is not aware of any Florida public schools currently offering African American studies classes. It is also not listed in the state’s current course directory.
Representatives from the Florida Department of Education and the state’s African American History Task Force did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
“People who are interested in developing the history of the African diaspora can’t rely on schools to do that,” said Tameka Bradley Hobbs, manager of the Broward County African American Research Library and Cultural Center. “I think it has become clearer that continuing the history and legacy of our ancestors requires a degree of independence and self-determination.”
Most schools in Florida don’t offer black history classes
Last year, only 30 of Florida’s 67 traditional school districts offered at least one standalone course in African American history or humanities, according to state data. Although not required by state law, having a class dedicated to Black history is an indicator of how a school district complies with state mandates.
Larger urban districts in Florida are much more likely to offer this class than smaller rural districts with fewer than 2,000 students.
Brian Knowles, director of African American, Holocaust and Latino studies for the Palm Beach County School District, said that even in districts with staff dedicated to black history education, some teachers fear violating state law.
“There are so many other neighborhoods and kids that we’re missing because we’re essentially tiptoeing through American history,” Knowles said.
Frustrated by the restrictions teachers face, Renee O’Connor took a leave of absence from her job teaching black history at Miami Norland High School in the majority-black city of Miami Gardens last year. Now, she’s back in the classroom, but she’s also helping community organizations develop their own Black history programs outside of the public school system.
“Of course, I wish all kids had an African American history class,” O’Connor said. “But if that’s not happening in schools, we need to pivot.”
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