On the Board of Education Agenda for the October 27, 2021 is a discussion for a highschool course on Black and African American Studies. To find out more about what was being considered I went back and listened to the October 13, 2021 Curriculum and Instruction committee meeting. There I found the description for the proposed course:
Secondary Social Studies Course Title: Black and African American Studies – grades 11 – 12 This course is offered to all high school students in grades 11 and 12 as an elective. The course charts the accomplishments and struggles of people of African descent in America. While instructors will take an approach rooted in historical exploration to teach a course that centers the experiences and voices of African Americans, the course will be interdisciplinary. Through a largely, but not exclusively, chronological approach, this course will emphasize how African Americans have worked to determine the trajectory of their own lives while navigating extensive challenges to freedom, advancement, and prosperity. While some attention will be paid to African origins, the course will analyze the historical, economic, political, and cultural paths from the African Slave Trade through the modern era. We analyze how African Americans forged identities and culture that have shaped our nation.
Under the current “equity” driven, Critical Race Theory, Social Emotional Learning mindset, the people of Frederick County need to start asking what exactly is the intention of this course? Will it further divide our community or bring unity through understanding?
I’ve asked the Board of Education and our Curriculum Department to clarify what the goals of the course are, you should too.
Will this course include the history of black Revolutionary War heroes James Armistead, Peter Salem, Prince Whipple and Oliver Cromwell? Will it teach how many black American’s fought in the Revolutionary War and helped America become a nation?
Will this course teach how when the first slaves arrived in Massachusetts the Christians arrested the officers of the slave ship and returned the kidnapped slaves to their homeland?
Will it teach about the anti-slavery founders who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Will it teach the three-fifths clause of the Constitution was to prevent pro-slave representatives from packing Congress and not to dehumanize slaves?
Will it teach that it was the Democrat party that wanted black people to remain second-class citizens?
Will it teach that 118 Republicans (100% of them) and only 23% of Democrats voted to end slavery?
Will it teach that black American’s held elected office in the 1800’s and all of them were Republicans? Will it teach students about Rev. Hiram Revels (R) (first African American to serve in Congress in 1869); Benjamin Turner (R) (first African American from Alabama to be elected to Congress in 1871); Robert DeLarge (R) (first African American from South Carolina to be elected to Congress in 1870) and Josiah Walls (R) (first African American from Florida in 1871)?
Black American’s have a rich and vibrant history in the creation of America. Every student, EVERY student deserves to know the truth about the founding of America. Pretending it was built to carry on slavery is an out and out lie. The words “slavery”, “slave” or “slaveholding” never appear in the U.S. Constitution.
Quite the opposite, it states “all” men are created equal. Maybe it’s time we start teaching every student the TRUTH about their history instead of the divisive manipulations forced on all of us by special interest groups?
