Florida News Connection
August 21, 2024
By: Trimmel Gomes
The Association for the Study of African
American Life and History is bringing its "Freedom Schools"
initiative to Florida as part of a national effort to counter legislative
efforts restricting the teaching of major historical topics.
With a rolling schedule, six chapters across the state are gearing up to offer
classes focused on African American history.
W. Marvin Dulaney, president of the association, emphasized the significance of
the classes.
"We're teaching freedom," Dulaney explained. "We're preparing
people to challenge the legislation by these 22 states that are trying to
restrict the teaching of slavery, the teaching of the civil rights
movement."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defends the state's crackdown on how race is taught
in schools, when education officials rejected an African American studies
course from being implemented earlier this year. Classes start in September in
Jacksonville, with Tampa, Manasota and St. Petersburg expected to follow.
Inspired by the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi, the Freedom Schools series
aims to empower students by teaching eight key areas of African American
history, including slavery, the civil rights movement and the Harlem
Renaissance. Dulaney argued such topics should already be taught in schools.
"We're going to look at African history, slavery, we will look at the
American Revolution, Civil War Reconstruction, race relations in this country
in the early 20th century," Dulaney outlined. "We'll look at the
Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts movement, and of course, obviously, we'll do
the civil rights movement."
Dulaney hopes educators will adopt the curriculum in classrooms across the
state to ensure a comprehensive understanding of African American history,
particularly in the face of ongoing educational restrictions. Interested
individuals can check their local Association for the Study of African American
Life and History chapter websites for
start dates and details on the Florida courses.
Content for this Post is provided by Florida News
Connection, a Bureau of Public News Service.
Public News Service is a member of the The Trust Project.
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