NewsLocal NewsIn Your NeighborhoodDowntown Tallahassee

Actions

Tallahassee group demanded to speak to Gov. DeSantis about Black history in schools; what they were told

Teaching Our History
Posted
and last updated
  • The Teaching Our Own History task force came to the Capitol Tuesday to deliver a curriculum guide they say will get a more accurate black history into schools.
  • They asked to hand the curriculum to the governor himself, but staff said he wasn't available. Instead, a member of the governor's staff accepted it on his behalf.
  • Watch the video to hear from leaders behind the idea.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

The Teaching Our Own History task force came to the Capitol Tuesday to deliver a curriculum guide they say we'll get a more accurate black history into schools. They asked to hand the curriculum to the governor himself, but staff said he wasn't available. Instead, a member of the governor's staff accepted it on his behalf.

"Is no one here to see the citizens in the state of Florida who pay taxes here," Revered R.B. Holmes, Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and Teaching Our Own History Chair said. The group then went on to Florida's Department of Education hoping to see the commissioner of education.

WATCH THE MOMENT IT HAPPENED BELOW:

See the moment a Tallahassee group demanded to speak to Gov. DeSantis about Black history in schools

Instead, someone from FLDOE was waiting to accept the curriculum.

"Our committee worked tirelessly and diligently researching history to make sure that it is true and factual,"Dana Thompson Dorsey, the Teaching Our Own History Task Force Curriculum Chair said.

The curriculum guide includes topics that are not always covered in K through 12 schools like redlining, under funding of HBCUs, and the roles of the Black church and the formerly enslaved Black South.