🌴 FLORIDA | 🇺🇸 USA-WIDE

Timeline of the Removal of Black History from Florida Schools (2016-2024)

2016-2017: Black History Mandates

2016: Florida’s Department of Education (DOE) mandates teaching African American history through Florida Statute 1003.42. Schools are required to cover the history of African Americans, including their contributions to society, the abolition movement, and the civil rights struggle.

2017: Despite this mandate, inconsistencies arise across districts in enforcing comprehensive Black history education. Teachers and advocates point out that critical parts of history remain underemphasized.

2018: Opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT) Emerges

2018: Conservative opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT) begins to gain momentum, even though CRT is primarily taught in law schools. CRT is reframed as a threat to public K-12 education, and this rhetoric spreads into Florida’s education debate.
2020: Protests and Pushback

Summer 2020: In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, racial justice becomes a major topic. Schools nationwide, including some in Florida, seek to expand lessons on race and Black history. However, the movement for comprehensive Black history meets resistance from conservative lawmakers.

Fall 2020: School board members and legislators in Florida push back on initiatives aimed at introducing race-related curricula, framing them as divisive.

2021: Executive Order and Ban on CRT

June 2021: Governor Ron DeSantis issues an executive order banning the teaching of CRT in public schools. The Florida Board of Education follows suit, implementing a rule prohibiting CRT and limiting how systemic racism and slavery can be discussed in K-12 education.

August 2021: Florida DOE clarifies that teachers cannot discuss systemic racism in classrooms, further restricting the teaching of topics like Jim Crow and segregation.

2022: The “Stop WOKE Act”

April 2022: Governor DeSantis signs the Stop WOKE Act (HB 7), which restricts how race-related topics can be taught in schools and workplace training programs. The act targets discussions that might make individuals feel “guilt or anguish” due to race-related injustices.

June 2022: As a result, Black history content is gradually removed from Florida public school curricula, especially lessons about the lasting effects of slavery and segregation.

2023: AP African American Studies Controversy
January 2023: Florida DOE rejects the AP African American Studies course from the College Board, deeming it politically biased. This decision sparks national controversy, with educators accusing the state of whitewashing history.

February 2023: Florida faces criticism from educators, historians, and civil rights organizations as it continues to restrict teaching Black history and systemic racism in schools.

2024: Continuing Restrictions

Early 2024: Florida schools continue implementing restricted curricula based on the Stop WOKE Act. Teachers report concerns about disciplinary actions if they deviate from state guidelines on discussing race, Black history, or systemic inequality.

🌴 FLORIDA | 🇺🇸 USA-WIDE

Understanding the National Movement to Restrict Black History (2016-Present)

While Florida has been at the forefront of efforts to restrict the teaching of Black history and race-related topics in schools, this movement is not confined to the Sunshine State. Many states across the U.S. have taken similar steps to limit discussions of race, racism, and Black history, often under the guise of banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) or preventing “divisive concepts” from being taught.

What Has Been Happening Since 2016?

2016-2018: The Foundations of the Anti-CRT Movement

2016: The seeds of opposition to Black history and CRT began to take root in the wake of increased national attention on police violence and racial inequality, following events like the 2016 shooting of Philando Castile. Public discourse around systemic racism grew, but so did conservative backlash.

2017: In response to growing advocacy for the inclusion of more comprehensive Black history in school curricula, conservative groups began framing CRT—largely an academic framework—as an ideological threat to K-12 education, even though it was primarily taught in law schools.

2018-2020: Resistance to Racial Justice Initiatives Grows

2018: State lawmakers in some conservative-leaning states started to introduce bills targeting CRT and other discussions of systemic racism. Although these bills initially gained little traction, they laid the groundwork for more aggressive efforts to follow.

2020: The murder of George Floyd and the subsequent surge of the Black Lives Matter movement led to widespread calls for racial justice and reforms in policing and education. In response, some state legislatures doubled down on opposing CRT, mischaracterizing it as divisive and anti-American.

2021: The Spread of Legislative Bans

2021: After the election of President Joe Biden and the national reckoning with racism, conservative lawmakers in multiple states began introducing bills aimed at banning the teaching of CRT, with language that often extended to all discussions of race, racism, and Black history.

• • Idaho became the first state to pass a law banning CRT from public schools in April 2021.
  • Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas followed quickly, passing similar laws that limited discussions of race and gender in classrooms, as well as in state employee training programs.

2022-2023: Intensified Efforts to Limit Black History

2022: The pushback against CRT intensified. More states passed laws or introduced policies aimed at restricting the teaching of not just CRT, but any curriculum that focused on race, systemic racism, and the negative aspects of U.S. history, particularly slavery and segregation.

• Florida’s Stop WOKE Act was signed into law, and other states like Georgia and Alabama introduced similar restrictions.
• By the end of 2022, 18 states had passed some form of legislation limiting how schools could discuss race and history.

2023: As Florida rejected the College Board’s AP African American Studies course, states like Arkansas and South Dakota took cues and introduced similar measures to ban lessons on race or limit how teachers could discuss historical injustices.

2024: Continuing the Trend

2024: By early 2024, at least 28 states had introduced, passed, or were actively considering legislation that either bans or severely restricts how race, Black history, or systemic racism can be taught in public schools.

• This includes states like Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, and Ohio, which have adopted or proposed policies targeting specific aspects of race-related education.
• South Carolina, Iowa, and North Dakota also passed laws requiring schools to avoid teaching students about systemic racism in a way that might make them uncomfortable based on their race or sex.

How Many States Have Bans or Restrictions?

As of 2024, 28 states have introduced or passed laws that restrict how schools can teach about Black history, CRT, and race relations. These states include:

• Florida
• Texas
• Arizona
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Idaho
• Iowa
• South Carolina
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• New Hampshire
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Alaska

This movement continues to spread, and more states are actively considering similar policies, with proponents framing the teaching of Black history and CRT as divisive. Even in states that have not yet passed such laws, similar discussions are brewing in school boards and state legislatures across the country.

The Threat is at Our Doorstep

Whether or not your state is on the list today, the movement to restrict Black history education is gaining momentum and could be coming to your local schools next. It’s a coordinated national effort that seeks to erase vital stories of struggle, resilience, and contribution by Black Americans. If Florida’s battle shows us anything, it’s that this issue isn’t just local—it’s a national crisis.