Florida’s slavery curriculum draws investigation from lawmakers
- Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are leading the effort
- The new rules include teaching how people learned skills while enslaved
- DeSantis has defended the new rules saying they are based in fact
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – JULY 17: Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis delivers remarks at the 2023 Christians United for Israel summit on July 17, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — Democratic lawmakers are seeking to determine if there is grounds to pursue legal action against the state of Florida for new curriculum standards regarding slavery.
Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said the caucus met with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and has sent inquiries to the Department of Justice regarding the issue.
Controversy over the new curriculum is centered around new rules regarding teaching Black history in schools. They are part of a law that requires lessons on race be taught in an “objective” manner. The rule that has garnered the most attention instructs teachers to include information on how slaves learned skills that could be used to their benefit.
The state’s teachers union called the guidelines a step backward for teaching, and Vice President Kamala Harris called the guidelines “revisionist history.”
Some Black conservatives in Florida also spoke out against the new guidelines, objecting to any curriculums that would suggest Black people somehow benefited from slavery. Others, meanwhile, spoke out in defense of the rule, providing examples of formerly enslaved people who bought their freedom based on their skills or performed the same jobs they had as enslaved people after being freed.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended the rule, insisting the guidelines are all rooted fact.
