Most of Florida work group did not agree with controversial parts of state's new standards for Black history, members say

Members of the Florida work group that developed new standards for teaching African American history opposed the sections that have recently drawn criticism.

A majority of the members of the Florida work group that developed new standards for teaching African American history opposed the sections that have recently drawn criticism, including that middle schoolers be instructed that enslaved people developed “skills” that could be used for their “personal benefit,” three members of the work group said.

The members, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal, told NBC News that the majority did not want to include that change or a requirement that high school students be taught about violence perpetrated “by African Americans” when learning about events like the Ocoee and Tulsa Race massacres.

“Most of us did not want that language,” one member said, adding that two of the 13 members of the group pushed to include those specific items.

The standards created by the work group went on to be unanimously approved on July 19 by the Florida Board of Education, which oversees the Education Department. The standards, which are to be used by students in kindergarten through 12th grade, have been widely criticized as “propaganda” and a “sanitized“ version of history.

Critics, including Vice President Kamala Harris, historians, educators and other politicians have said, among other things, that the new standards attempt to mask the many horrors of slavery, including rape, murder and forced labor, trying to portray it as an apprenticeship.