Ron DeSantis banned lessons on racism in Florida public schools. ‘Freedom schools’ fill the gaps

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The class Best teaches is part of an educational initiative launched in 2023 by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), a Black heritage academic club founded in 1915 by historian Carter G Woodson. Known as a “freedom school”, the class was formed in response to what critics call an assault on Black history in Florida public schools launched by Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor’s Stop Woke Act prohibits schools from teaching about structural racism or using educational material from The 1619 Project, and he’s also banned advanced-placement African American history courses.

While state statute still requires the teaching of African American history in Florida’s public schools, only 11 out of more than 60 districts have a Black history teaching plan advertised in curriculum guides, according to the state board African American History Taskforce. And since last year, the state’s social studies standards have included instruction that enslaved people learned skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit”. Some students and instructors say that the governor’s policies have sowed a culture of fear.