If you're criticizing Florida Gov. DeSantis and the state' standards for teaching about slavery, you ought to read them first.
That'll put this argument in an entirely new light.
Don’t know who was Betsey Stockton? She’s one of the many African Americans, slaves and free, who history is taught in Florida schools, as required by the state’s “controversial” academic standards.
I didn’t expect any better from liberals/progressives/Democrats who are crucifying Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the supposed “racism” found in the state’s new academic standards.
True to form, the criticism was focused on a single sentence in an extensive, outline for how to comprehensively teach students about African Americans and slavery.
Specifically, the new standards for the coming school year state that middle schoolers will be instructed about "how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
Let the raging begin. Never mind that it’s factually correct. That sentence was a part of a larger topic: “Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing).” And that brief item was a part of a 41-page document setting standards for teaching African American History.
Hardly any of that was reported by the media, including Politico, the Washington Post and NBC, It’s a “step-backwards,” “Whitewashing history.” Even ex-Gov. Chris Christie couldn’t resist taking a swipe at his opponent, DeSantis.
DeSantis wasn’t responsible for those words; the standards were formulated by scholars. The mindless criticism required a reply from Florida’s Board of Education, which issued the standards:
“The intent of this particular benchmark clarification is to show that some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefitted. This is factual and well documented…
Some examples include: blacksmiths like Ned Cobb, Henry Blair, Lewis Latimer and John Henry; shoemakers like James Forten, Paul Cuffe and Betty Washington Lewis; fishing and shipping industry workers like Jupiter Hammon, John Chavis, William Whipper and Crispus Attucks; tailors like Elizabeth Keckley, James Thomas and Marietta Carter; and teachers like Betsey Stockton and Booker T. Washington.”
I’d add that slave craftsmen and tradesmen built the U.S. Capitol.
Nowhere is anyone trying to justify slavery or to deny the moral evil of slavery. But it is morally evil to imply that someone is in this instance. It’s also malicious to ignore the rest of the lengthy set of standards that tell the full story. For example, teachers are to examine…
the development of slavery and describe the conditions for Africans during their passage to America.
the reciprocal roles of the Triangular Trade routes between Africa and the western hemisphere, Africa and Europe, and Europe and the western hemisphere.
the harsh living conditions of slaves in British North American colonies, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, including overwhelming mortality rates.
how conditions for Africans changed in colonial North America
from 1619-1776.
different events in which Africans resisted slavery, including slave revolts
such as the San Miguel de Gualdape Slave Rebellion in 1526 and the New York City Slave Uprising in 1712.
the contributions of Africans to society, science, poetry, politics, oratory, literature, music, dance, Christianity and exploration in the United
States from 1776-1865. Include such people as Prince Hall, Phillis Wheatley, Benjamin Banneker, Richard Allen, the Free African Society, Olaudah Equiano, Omar ibn Said, Cudjoe Lewis, Anna Jai Kingsley and the role of black churches such as African Methodist Episcopal (AME).
the influences of individuals and groups on social and political developments during the Early National Period. That includes the varied experiences of Africans in the United States, the consequences of Lord Dunmore’s actions in 1775 while serving as Royal Governor of Virginia, how African men, both enslaved and free, participated in the Continental Army units such as the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Also the contributions of such key figures as Crispus Attucks, Salem Poor, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, Lemuel Haynes, Phillis Wheatley, Richard Allen and James Armistead Lafayette.
acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans but .not limited to 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, 1919 Washington, D.C. Race Riot, 1920 Ocoee Massacre, 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the 1923 Rosewood Massacre.
And plenty more.
Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, criticized the standards, saying "[The students] deserve the full truth of American history, the good and the bad.” The audacity. He knows what the entire section on African American history teaches, but he and others intentionally disregard the context.
The Florida standards in no way try to justify slavery in any respects. It is an unvarnished trip through the grave history of slavery in America. The trouble is that some liberals/progressive/Democrats would distort that history in a way that fuels division and hatred.