- A network of Florida churches, including one in downtown Tallahassee, is working to get more black history curricula put into school.
- The Teaching Our Own History task force plans to get the curriculum resources in traditional, charter, and private schools—as well as churches, community groups, and individual homes.
- Watch the video to see what the group plans and how leaders in education at the state level plan to move forward.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A network of Florida churches including in downtown Tallahassee is working to get more black history curricula put into school.
The Teaching Our Own History task force has curated Black History curriculum resources and they plan to give it to Governor Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. on Tuesday.
"I want our children, my children, and their children, and so on and so forth," Dana Thompson Dorsey, the Teaching Our Own History Task Force Curriculum Chair said. "I want them to be able to say that the Teach Our Own History taskforce in the state of Florida, in 2023 2024, and beyond, fought and continue to fight for factual history to be taught in this country."
Thompson Dorsey is the mother of two Florida Public School System children. It's a system she, and about a hundred others at the Teaching our Own History Symposium said is under attack.
"Florida would not be the place where black history comes to die," Reverend R.B. Holmes, the Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and Teaching Our Own History Chair said.
Holmes hosted the symposium where congregations, scholars, parents, and activists from all over the state came to attend.
"We want to teach an accurate factual history," Holmes said. "So I'm not gonna give the governor a pass. You know, he's a politician, I'm a prophet. So the prophet's gonna go to the Capitol on Tuesday, to give him a comprehensive curriculum that should be used in the public school system."
Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Stop W.O.K.E. Act into law in 2022. That law sets parameters around how race can be taught in Florida's schools — prohibiting instruction that students "should feel" guilt because of their race.
"If anyone takes the time to actually look at the standards you can see from Kindergarten everything is covered," Manny Diaz, Jr, the Florida Department of Education Commissioner said in 2023. "From those who have been prominent African Americans, as age-appropriate, we go into some of the other subjects."
Highlights of the Teaching Our Own History curriculum were unveiled on Monday.
"We actually talk about those early years of African kingdoms and queendoms," Thompson Dorsey said.
It also includes topics not always covered in K-12 schools like the redlining, underfunding of HBCUs, and the role of the Black church in the formerly enslaved Black South.
"After salvation comes social justice," Reverend Carl Johnson, the President of the Florida General Baptist Convention said.
They plan to get the curriculum resources in traditional, charter, and private schools—as well as churches, community groups, and individual homes.
"I will fight for the future of my children, and everybody's children, grandchildren and so forth," Thompson Dorsey said. "Our ancestors went through a lot worse, and this is the least I can do and everyone else can do."
