FRIED CHICKEN & WATERMELON

School food vendor apologizes — again — for 'inexcusable' Black History Month menu



Doha Madani
Sun, February 5, 2023

A vendor that provides food service to schools apologized for the "unintentional insensitivity" of its Black History Month menu, echoing similar apologies it has made for more than a decade amid backlash over racially insensitive menus.

Students at Nyack Middle School in New York were served chicken and waffles with a choice of watermelon for dessert on the first day of Black History Month on Wednesday, according to WABC-TV. The school's administration and its food vendor, Aramark, apologized after students and parents pointed out the racial stereotypes the menu reinforced.

Aramark said in a statement to NBC News on Sunday that the situation "never should have happened" and apologized for what it called an "inexcusable mistake."

"We have apologized for our mistake, are working to determine how it happened and make sure it never happens again," the statement said. "Our team at that school should have been more thoughtful in its service."

David Johnson, principal of Nyack Middle School, did not immediately return a request for comment to NBC News on Sunday. He did state in a letter to parents that the school was unaware of the menu, WABC reported.

"The vendor has agreed to plan future menu offerings to align with our values and our longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion," the letter said. "We are extremely disappointed by this regrettable situation and apologize to the entire Nyack community for the cultural insensitivity displayed by our food service provider.”

Aramark has been behind similar menus on past holidays commemorating Black people that sparked controversy at two universities going back more than a decade. In 2011, Aramark served chicken and waffles on Martin Luther King Day at the University of California, Irvine.

It said at the time, according to the Los Angeles Times, that the company would conduct cultural sensitivity training for all managers and chefs.

Students at New York University demanded the school cut its ties with Aramark after its Black History Month menu in 2018 included barbecue ribs, cornbread, collard greens, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water, according to The New York Times.

Aramark said at the time that two employees had planned that menu independently without consulting school advisory or cultural groups, which was a violation of company policy, and had been terminated.

An editorial published in the school's newspaper, Washington Square News, called the "racial stereotyping" by Aramark on college campuses "unacceptable."

"Although Aramark has made wide public apologies, it should be judged on its actions," the editorial said. "Serving racially stereotyped food during Black History Month is another clear indicator that Aramark’s values as a company are misaligned."

NYU sought to cut its ties with Aramark in 2019 and searched for other vendors, according to the Washington Square News, after students protested against the company's practices. The university's dining services are now partnered with Chartwells, according to its website.

Associating certain foods with Black culture derives historically from how these foods were once used as symbols in popular media to depict Black people as poor and uncultured following the abolition of slavery.

In the 1915 silent film “The Birth of a Nation,” fried chicken was used as part of the film's derogatory depictions of Black people. White actors wearing blackface were seen eating fried chicken and tossing bones around the buildings of Congress.

And watermelon has been linked to poverty for centuries. The Atlantic reported in 2014 that as early as 1801, a British officer stationed in Egypt called it a “poor Arab’s feast.”

But these racial stereotypes became more widespread in the U.S. after emancipation, when caricatures of freed slaves sought to paint Black people as ignorant and mindless, according to the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University in Michigan.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

‘Black History Is American History!’ State AG Aaron Ford Smacks Down Critical Race Theory Bans That Hinder Teaching

By Tommy Christopher

Feb 12th, 2022, 

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford smacked down efforts to hinder the teaching of some Black history in the form of bans on critical race theory.

On Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Dean Obeidallah Show, the host talked to Nevada’s top cop about laws that have made it more difficult to teach certain concepts about Black history. Mr. Ford had a clear and simple answer:

Dean: Is it more important now to teach Black History Month than it was in years past when there really wasn’t an issue? I mean, I was reading about in Tennessee some people objecting the Black History Month calling it critical race theory.

Nevada AG Ford: Yeah listen on the first day of Black History Month, I tweeted simply: “Black history is American history.” Period. Point blank. That’s the answer.

You know, it’s interesting because I live in Nevada as I’ve indicated 18 years now, did you know this, Dean, that’s 75 years before Brown versus Board of Education–about seventy years before– that Nevada had its own Brown v. Board of education case called Stoudamire versus Carson City schools?

Mr. Stoudmaire was a young black student who wanted to go to the white high school the white school in Carson City–which is in our capitol. He was disallowed because we had a statute on the books here in Nevada that said that blacks, mongoloids–and they use other antiquated phraseology–had to go separate schools.

Our Supreme Court in the late 1870’s said that “separate but equal” is unequal and was patently unconstitutional under our state constitution. That’s in Nevada…that’s Nevada history. Now it happens to a Black man, right a black child, but it’s something that should be it’s taught in our schools. We should be proud of the fact that 75 years before Brown v Board, we had already said everybody equal is unequal. That’s what should be taught in our schools and so that’s why I stand by this notion of black history being American history.

Education
Black history is ‘integral part’ of British culture, says Black Curriculum founder

What do students learn in the classroom about race and history? 

In the UK, an organization called The Black Curriculum has been pushing for Black history to be taught nationwide. June 24, 2020 ·By Amanda McGowan


A teacher reads children a story on the grounds of St. Dunstan's College junior school as some schools reopen following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in London, Britain, June 1, 2020. Credit: Simon Dawson/Reuters

Last Friday, the US celebrated Juneteenth — the day in 1865 when the news that slavery had ended finally reached Texas, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.

Many Americans probably did not learn the history of June 19 in school. But the protests that came together after George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis have brought attention to the way racism impacts every aspect of society — including what students learn in the classroom about race and history.

This reexamination isn’t just happening in the US. In the UK, an organization called The Black Curriculum has been pushing for Black history to be taught nationwide, as well as creating lesson plans and leading student workshops and teacher trainings.

Related: This African American in Ghana says making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a ‘small gesture.’ She urges police reform.

“In schools currently, the teaching of Black history is limited to Black History Month, which in the UK is in October,” said Lavinya Stennett, founder of The Black Curriculum.

theblackcurriculum

Our IGTV series, ‘Black British Women’ told the story of four inspirational women in Britain.
1. Olive Morris (top left) was a political activist, born in 1952 in Jamaica. Morris was an organisational and fighter against racism and sexism in the UK.
2. Lilian Bader (top right) was one of the first black women to join the British armed forces and was a Leading Aircraft-woman with the WAAF during WW2.
3. Mary Seacole (bottom left) was a nurse who greatly helped soldiers during the Crimean War.
4. Fanny Eaton (bottom right) is best known for her work as a model for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood between 1859-1867.
Did you enjoy our IGTV series? We now have a range of packages including podcasts, activities and animations available on our website! Visit www.theblackcurriculum.com/resources for more info

“What we see is a lack of narratives around Black people in Britain. That fundamentally is presenting a very false view of British history because we know Black people have been here since Roman times."Lavinya Stennett, founder, The Black Curriculum

“What we see is a lack of narratives around Black people in Britain. That fundamentally is presenting a very false view of British history because we know Black people have been here since Roman times,” she continued.

The Black Curriculum has created lessons around a number of topics in Black history, including arts and culture, migration, law and the environment.

Stennett says some of those were inspired by things she learned from her own culture but were never discussed in a school setting. She points to the Notting Hill Carnival, one of the largest street parties in Europe, which was created by a Black woman named Claudia Jones who was born in Trinidad and Tobago.

“I’m from a Jamaican background, and every year we have Notting Hill Carnival, and at home, we would play reggae music. So there were certain introductions in my personal life that I knew, in terms of my history and where it came from, but in terms of learning it at school there was no kind of introduction to that at all,” Stennett said. “That’s what our syllabus is about: It’s about bridging history with contemporary themes today.”

Related: Police reform requires culture change, not just diversity, advocates say

Stennett says learning this history in the classroom not only empowers students but also makes them excited to learn.

“When you’re confronted with new knowledge it can make you uncomfortable. But at the same time if you’re learning about your own identity and your own culture, it’s really powerful."Lavinya Stennett, founder, The Black Curriculum

“When you’re confronted with new knowledge it can make you uncomfortable. But at the same time if you’re learning about your own identity and your own culture, it’s really powerful,” she said.

Part of The Black Curriculum’s work recently has been to campaign for Black British history to be a nationwide requirement in schools. But Stennett says the organization received a response from the government Tuesday arguing that the national curriculum already provides teachers with the flexibility to teach Black history if they wish.

Stennett said the response was disappointing, but that The Black Curriculum’s work would continue.

“It just takes us back to why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Stennett said. “It’s really important that Black history’s not seen as an addition, but as an integral part of our culture. It’s British history. It’s not just for Black people and it’s not just about Black people. It’s about the nation and the future of Britain as well.”

CANADA

Can a compulsory curriculum lead to a deeper understanding of Black history?


CBC
Mon, March 4, 2024 

A Black Students' Union at a Surrey, B.C. high school meets for an event on February 28. Ontario is moving to make learning about Black history compulsory in three grades — a move whose rollout some are worried about. (Gian Paolo Mendoza/CBC - image credit)

Aside from a unit about slavery during Grade 8 and a flurry of Black History Month facts passed on each February, Bullen Kosa noticed a gap in learning about the Black experience. That's why the high school senior enrolled in a new Black Studies course developed by one of his teachers in Surrey, B.C.

What Kosa had learned about Black history was "mostly focused on slavery and the negative things that are attached to Blackness as a whole. And I took this course to kind of broaden my knowledge on the good things that Black people have done," said the Grade 12 student.

He described learning about the influence of ancient African civilizations as well as more recent achievements made by Black scientists.

"It makes me and other Black students feel [like] part of the conversation."

The class has also been a revelation for fellow senior Emma Hoffman, who initially signed up simply to fill her schedule.

"I realized how much information I was missing out on," she said. "I grew up thinking that all this history that I was being taught in elementary school was true, not realizing that they were leaving out so much."

How much Black history Canadian students learn varies greatly from classroom to classroom, dependent on choices made by individual teachers. However, last month Ontario announced a plan to make Black history compulsory learning in grades 7, 8 and 10 — the first in Canada to explicitly mandate the topic in its public school curriculum. It's set to roll out in September 2025.

It's welcome news for the educators across the country who are already weaving the Black experience into their classrooms and hoping for a similar announcement closer to home. Yet some have concerns about how this mandate might roll out and whether it will be go beyond an opportune announcement during Black History Month.

High school seniors Sana Johal, from left, Bullen Kosa and Emma Hoffman have all taken Black Studies 12, a social studies elective course in B.C.'s Surrey School District that was co-created by their teacher Melanie Scheuer.

Surrey, B.C., students Sana Johal, from left, Bullen Kosa and Emma Hoffman have all taken the elective course Black Studies 12. (CBC)

Kosa and Hoffman's teacher Melanie Scheuer, who co-created Surrey District's Black Studies elective with colleagues Michael Musherure and Manvir Mander, was thrilled to hear about Ontario's mandate.

"[It] gave me encouragement… that this could happen in the province I teach in and this could be something that is nationwide," they said.

Though B.C. has somewhat improved representation of racialized groups and communities in its curriculum in recent years by introducing province-wide electives such as Asian Studies, Genocide Studies and B.C. First Peoples courses, according to Scheuer, something highlighting the Black experience has long been missing.

So, as Black Lives Matter rose into public discourse, the trio of teachers jumped into developing a new course for their district. After a pilot run, they're now hoping Black Studies 12 will become a provincially offered elective across B.C., but Scheuer said they would love it even more if the material became compulsory for high schoolers, like Indigenous Studies courses are.

High school teacher Melanie Scheuer speaks to students at Frank Hurt Secondary in Surrey, B.C.

High school teacher Melanie Scheuer, seen speaking to students in Surrey, B.C., co-created the elective course Black Studies 12 with two district colleagues over the past few years. (Gian Paolo Mendoza/CBC)

"It would do a lot of the work to decolonize and educate … specifically the students, but [also] the teachers. It just shifts the environment," they said.

They also said anti-racism training and professional development must be mandated, as well.

"Teachers also have their own prejudice based on stereotypes," they said. "In order to teach a course like this, it is necessary that you also do the work."

'At last this is happening'

Black people across Canada — especially parents and educators — have campaigned over decades for the inclusion of Black history in the school curriculum, said historian Afua Cooper, a parent whose own reaction to Ontario's announcement was simple: "Finally. At last, this is happening."

The Dalhousie University professor and principal investigator for the federally funded project A Black People's History of Canada called it an auspicious moment that could inspire others.

"Anything that Ontario does, everybody takes notice," she said from Halifax.

Historian and professor Afua Cooper is seen at Dalhousie University in Halifax on Thursday, February 22, 2024.

Ontario's announcement is an auspicious first step, says historian and Dalhousie University professor Afua Cooper, but being truly committed to Black history would involve mandatory learning from K-12, with teachers exploring achievements as well as struggles. (CBC )

What she said she'd like to see after this first step, however, is for Black history to be woven across all grade levels, with teachers exploring a breadth of stories — achievements as well as struggles — in age-appropriate ways.

"If you're really committed to Black people and to Black history, then let's begin at kindergarten [and continue] straight into Grade 12 and make that mandatory," she said.

Strong resources as well as follow-up assessment and reflection on how teachers are meeting Black history curriculum expectations are also required, according to Cooper.

"There's always been this resistance in some quarters — even when they are able to, even when there are lots of resources," she said.

"So how are we going to deal with the issue of anti-Black racism within the education system and ... within the hearts of many educators who do not feel that they want to do this?"

Mandates 'politically useful'

Mandates aren't a new tool, but education ministries have introduce a flurry of late, from Holocaust learning in Ontario, B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan last fall to new credits for high school graduation (like B.C.'s aforementioned Indigenous studies classes, Ontario's technical education requirement or financial literacy in Saskatchewan).

"The mandate approach has gotten more popular recently because it's sort of politically useful," said Joel Westheimer, professor of education at the University of Ottawa's faculty of education.

Joel Westheimer, a professor of education at the University of Ottawa, is seen in Ottawa on Friday, February 23, 2024.

University of Ottawa professor Joel Westheimer says a mandate doesn't fully allow for how a specific topic can fit into a broader curriculum. (Sylvain Lepage/CBC)

"You can say, 'This is a priority of this government…' and that makes a statement in and of itself before it even takes effect in school."

However, Westheimer thinks a mandate can potentially push expectations through too quickly and challenge how the learning rolls out in classrooms: a rushed add-on versus lessons that land effectively.

"The government can say, 'You see: we're pushing forward this laudable goal,' but educationally, we need time. And teachers have a curriculum that's already jam-packed with stuff.

"Mandates don't allow … the full consideration of how a particular topic is going to fit into the curriculum in a holistic manner."

Teacher calls for holistic approach

D. Tyler Robinson, who counts Grade 10 history among the courses he teaches, is wary of Ontario's mandate leading to the shoehorning a bit of Black history "into [a] stuffed curriculum that already doesn't fully get covered," or simply an attempt to check a box rather than make real change.

"If I talk about a couple of Black folks and what they achieved and what they went through — in grades 7, 8 and 10 — is that somehow magically going to address the 56 per cent of racism incidents [reported to a Toronto District School Board online portal] that are anti-Black racism?" said the Toronto high school teacher and curriculum writer, referring to a 2021-2022 report from the TDSB's human rights office.

D. Tyler Robinson, a high school social studies teacher and curriculum developer, is seen in Toronto on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

D. Tyler Robinson believes a more holistic approach to incorporating Black history learning can pave the way for better representation of other groups in the curriculum, as well. (Joe Fiorino/CBC)

Conversations about race and racism are challenging — for adults and for kids, Robinson said — and so require clear guidance, training and support for teachers to facilitate.

Rather than "piecemeal, tokenistic gestures," he said, a more holistic approach to incorporating Black history learning can pave the way for better representation of other groups in the curriculum, as well.

"Are you gonna be able to create curricular pieces for every single community, of every single identity? Of course you can't do that ... because we can't create more time."

Robinson said a real strategy would involve "making space for all those conversations, and kids would begin to learn about one another in complex ways."

Back in Surrey, Grade 12 student Sana Johal chose to take the Black Studies elective in part to share knowledge with family members born outside Canada.

Learning about Indigenous and Black communities, she believes, "should have been mandatory" a long time ago.

"Every province should have this type of course. Every school should have this type of course, and we shouldn't have to fight for this course to be happening. I think it should just automatically be there, because it's important to learn."

(CBC)

Students fight for Black history courses, a more diverse curriculum in high schools

Many high school students are usually preoccupied with fitting in and keeping their heads above never-ending tests and due dates.

The students fighting for a more diverse lesson plan

But Machayla Randall, a high school senior in New Jersey, is more worried about making a difference in her school and beyond.

“There's definitely a lack of education of African American history throughout our school system,” she said. “In our history courses, the most you learn about African American history is during the month of February, which is Black History Month, and it's limited to the civil rights movement and that's pretty much it, unfortunately.”

© ABC VIDEOS

Students fight for Black history courses, a more diverse curriculum in high schools (msn.com)

For Randall and her classmates at Cherry Hill High School East, change begins with a course correction in history.

“Right now … we're asking for a mandatory African American studies course at the high school level that encourages teaching of systematic racism,” she said.

The course is currently offered at both Cherry Hill high schools -- West and East -- only as an elective

.

© ABC Cherry Hill High School East senior Machayla Randall is leading the charge to bring a mandatory course on African American studies to her district.

As protests for social justice erupted across the nation last year following the death of George Floyd, many students faced their own moment of racial reckoning in the classroom.

Last summer, Randall and members of her school’s African American Culture Club formed what they called the Social Justice Committee.

“I was sad. Also, in disbelief, shock and, primarily, I felt isolated,” Randall said. “Eventually, those feelings kind of turned into action.”

The students organized a Juneteenth protest focused on education.

“We were definitely inspired by the rising action across the nation,” Randall said. “Once we saw even local activists start to take action as well, we just needed our voice and we just needed to push for what we wanted.”

© Machayla Randall Machayla Randall helped organize a Juneteenth protest, where she addressed a crowd.

Joseph Meloche, a Cherry Hill native, has been superintendent of the school district for six years. He spoke to a crowd at the protest, where Randall also made a speech.

“It was incredible what they were able to put together,” he said. “As the adults, we have to make sure that we are physically there for them. And sometimes, even if we are just standing alongside to make sure that they have the opportunity to speak, if I can lend my voice, my figure and my presence to that, then that certainly is my responsibility to do that.”  

© ABC “We have to teach it. We have to talk about it,” Dr. Joseph Meloche said. “History through the lens of white eyes or white Americans cannot continue to be the dominant and singular piece through which we teach."

The predominantly white school district would be the first district in the state to make its African American studies course a requirement.

“We have to teach it. We have to talk about it,” Meloche said. “History through the lens of white eyes or white Americans cannot continue to be the dominant and singular piece through which we teach. And again, when we talk about folks of color, it can't just be five or six individuals that children hear about from elementary school through high school. It needs to be all of our history. Black history is our history.”

The director of curriculum, Farrah Mahan, recognizes the flaws in today’s history courses.

“We have to move beyond courses that really talk about how so many people of color were taken from their homes and from their countries and colonized,” Mahan said. “We start to look at our curriculum not through a Eurocentric perspective, but through a perspective that really highlighted Black and brown excellence. It's not OK to be sitting in a classroom and to never hear about yourself or your background… We want our students to feel like, ‘I belong here, I have a place here and I should be able to feel comfortable in the academic environment.’”

© ABC The director of curriculum, Dr. Farrah Mahan, recognizes the flaws in today’s history courses.

Mahan has worked closely with students, authors, local professors and universities to design a potential mandatory course in Black history for the district.

“Even though our teachers write the curriculum, we also are allowing a space for the students to give us their input,” Mahan said. “We're starting to talk about, ‘What are we learning about present day authors? What do our students know about Maya Angelou and the significance behind Malcolm X, not just Martin Luther King.’ We are asking the students, ‘Tell us what part of history would you really like to see brought to life in this course?’”

Randall says students are an integral part of that process.

“You can't really know what's best for your students unless you are willing to hear from them,” she said. “The students are the ones experiencing the culture at school, so I think it's really important that students have an opportunity to reflect their perspectives and their experiences and [for] their opinions to be valued.”

© ABC A mural of advocates for diversity at the Cherry Hill Alternative High School building at the Malberg Administration Building.

Some college students are also mobilizing to change whitewashed narratives in high school classrooms.

Stanford University sophomores Jasmine Nguyen and Katelin Zhou launched the campaign “Diversify Our Narrative” in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as their personal experiences in high school.

“Growing up, it was a bit difficult to see that I wasn't really represented in the classroom or in the media,” Zhou said. “Or, if I was represented and my people were represented, it was often portrayed in a more one-dimensional or stereotypical manner. And so, I think it can be difficult, [for] any person of color when they're growing up and they face similar obstacles where they have to face microaggressions or even systemic racism, when it comes to Black and brown folks… To see this happening all the time, and not really seeing yourself and your people portrayed in a manner that really reflects your rich cultural history in a multidimensional way.”

Nguyen and Zhou created a student-led campaign and organized with students across the country to help them form their own chapters within their school districts.

Their original mission was to get one book by and about a person of color added to the curriculum for every grade, in every school.

“We also have other chapters that have started their own petitions, [and they] are actually advocating for things like... getting police officers off campus,” Nguyen said. “It originally started with this one book campaign, but [has] now kind of spiraled into this much larger idea of racial justice and educational equity on a larger level.”

Their campaign has now reached over 800 school districts across the nation with more than 5,000 organizers participating. But as with any change, there has been pushback.

“There definitely has been backlash in terms of folks interpreting the movement as against white authors,” Nguyen said. “[It’s] really important to highlight [that] we're not so much saying that we don't want these works of literature. I like to see it not so much as subtracting from [a] curriculum, [but rather] as expanding our perspectives and our horizons.”

“We want to diversify the books that we're reading, not necessarily eliminate or trample over others,” Zhou added. “I think a lot of the reason why there is backlash is because a lot of people are uncomfortable when you try to change the status quo.”  

© ABC Stanford University sophomores Jasmine Nguyen and Katelin Zhou launched the campaign “Diversify Our Narrative” in response to the Black Lives Matter movement

That resistance to change is something Maria Montessori Academy, a predominantly white Utah school, is familiar with.

The charter school is no longer allowing parents to opt their children out of its Black History Month curriculum after coming under fire for initially giving families the option to do so. A few parents had requested the exemption from the instruction but later withdrew their requests.

The school’s opt-out policy began receiving public attention after the Academy’s director, Micah Hirokawa, wrote on the school’s Facebook page that he had “reluctantly” issued a letter that said families would be allowed “to exercise their civil rights to not participate in Black History Month at the school.” The post has since been deleted.

Hirokawa, who is of Asian descent, said the parents’ decision goes against his personal beliefs, according to the Standard-Examiner.

“I personally see a lot of value in teaching our children about the mistreatment, challenges and obstacles that people of color in our nation have had to endure and what we can do today to ensure that such wrongs don’t continue,” he said.

The fight to diversify education in the classroom has persisted for generations.

Between 1965 and 1972, African American students from nearly 1,000 schools across the country formed the Black Campus Movement, which demanded that Black studies be implemented in schools, that progressive Black universities be established and that a diverse system of higher education be built.

“If we look throughout history, it almost always comes from the young people, doesn't it?” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said. “That in part is because they still are so very idealistic and determined. They come from that place of aspirational thinking and hope and they are not deterred by what has been.

”MORE: Black scuba divers document slave shipwrecks forgotten for generations

In Cherry Hill, the mandatory African American studies course is on the verge of becoming a reality. The proposal will go before the city's Board of Education on Feb. 23, and may be passed in time for the end of Black History Month.

For Mahan, it's about making a difference that will extend far beyond this school year

© ABC For Randall and her classmates at the Cherry Hill High School East, change begins with a “course correction” in history.

“It's really about building our body of work and building a legacy for students,” Mahan said. “I'm hoping that it's something that does not just go away, that there are always advocates who are pushing the need for a course of this nature over the years.”

Meloche urged adults to listen to the feedback from the students.

© ABC Cherry Hill High School East senior Machayla Randall is leading the charge to bring a mandatory course on African American studies to her district.

“The only way that society has grown throughout the last few thousand years is that communities come together and support one another,” Meloche said. “This is not an individual endeavor.”

“It's really important to understand more than one perspective, and that is why it's really important for us to encourage black education,” Randall said. “I hope it has a great effect on the younger generations. Ideally, I'm hoping for younger generations to have better experiences than us."

Black History Month: The untold story of ‘Auntie’ Annie Saunders in southern Alberta

By Emily Olsen Global News
Posted February 1, 2021

VIDEO Black History Month: The untold story of ‘Auntie’ Annie Saunders in southern Alberta | Globalnews.ca

This Black History Month feature showcases the story of Black pioneer “Auntie” Annie Saunders who wore many hats at the time of Fort Macleod's creation and helped shape the Lethbridge region as we know it today. As Emily Olsen reports, Saunders’ story is one of many that are slowly being uncovered after years of erasure – Feb 1, 2021


The story of “Auntie” Annie Saunders is one of true grit and independence in the history of southern Alberta.

Saunders’ life prior to moving to Alberta is still largely a mystery, but Belinda Crowson — president of the Lethbridge Historical Society — says it’s the journey she took alone as a Black woman into the Canadian West that indicates her independent spirit and determination to create a better life.

READ MORE: Calgary filmmaker explores what could be Alberta’s first civil rights case

“She called herself ‘Auntie’ and that’s what she always told people is, ‘Call me Auntie,’ so she’s often referred to as ‘Auntie Saunders’ or ‘Annie Saunders,'” Crowson said.

“She was an American, born in the States, and she met Mary Macleod — Colonel Macleod’s wife — on a Missouri riverboat as Mary Macleod was heading west.”

In 1877, Saunders decided to join Mary Macleod and arrived in Fort Macleod to begin work as a nanny or nurse to the Macleod children.

Crowson says this is how she was most often documented, but recent research — through letters and correspondence — suggests that Saunders was a pioneer in her own right, running multiple businesses in Fort Macleod and later in Pincher Creek.


READ MORE: John Ware legacy carries on as Calgary celebrates Black History Month

“She’s associated with a boarding house and being a laundress and running a restaurant,” Crowson said.
“And [with] the boarding house in Pincher Creek, one of the [interesting] things is that when kids from surrounding ranches had to come into Pincher Creek for school, hers was the boarding house many of them stayed at. So she took care of the kids from the neighbourhood as well.”

Crowson says letters from Colonel Macleod show the high regard she was held in with their family and with the community as a result.

With such an essential role in her community, the lack of publicly recorded information about Saunders and her entrepreneurial spirit shows a small snapshot of the pushback she faced as a woman of colour in the late 1800s.

“When you look at a lot of the early records, she is just mentioned as the nurse of the Macleod family. It took a long time and a lot of research for her to get an identity and to get a name attached to her,” Crowson said.

“She certainly reflects an attempt to push aside part of history.”

READ MORE: New documentary showcases Black history in the Prairies

Saunders died in July 1898 at the age of 62 and was buried in Pincher Creek.

Her buried legacy is finally being uncovered.

“We’re encouraged that her story has been found and that researchers have found hers,” Crowson said. “But who else is still out there to be found?”

Black History Month; C.L.R. James

Today is the last day of Black History Month and this is the final biography for this year, of black radicals whom I admire and who have influenced me.

CLR James is one of the great and underrated Marxists of the 20th Century. He was a Pan-African, in the tradition of Bakunin, and influenced Aime Cesar and Franz Fanon

His Pan-Africanism called out to the oppressed not only in Africa but the Caribbean, his home, to mobilize not around the narrowness of nationalism, but to strive to see the importance of Africanism as a counter to the colonial ideology of racism and oppression.

“this independent Negro movement is able to intervene with terrific force upon the general social and political life of the nation, despite the fact that it is waged under the banner of democratic rights ... [and] is able to exercise a powerful influence upon the revolutionary proletariat, that it has got a great contribution to make to the development of the proletariat in the United States, and that it is in itself a constituent part of the struggle for socialism.”.
The C L R James Internet Archive

He was a philosopher, an author, and a cricket fan.

He always came back to cricket and soccer as the great icon of working class democracy and plurality. And he always spoke highly of his favorite British Novel; Vanity Fair.

I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at the University of Alberta on four occasions through out his life. And he was always challenged by the Trotskyists in the city because being Trotsky' former secretary, he had split with the old man over the issue of whether the Stalinist Soviet Union was a 'degenerated workers state' or if it was state capitalism. He and his political partner Raya Dunayevskaya took the latter position as the Johnston-Forest tendency.

It was during this time that the Johnston-Forest tendency reached the conclusion that as they felt there was no true socialist society existing anywhere in the world, they called for a return to Marxist philosophy. Their return to Hegel's philosophy as being the foundation of Marx's philosophy was largely due to Dunayevskaya, who was deeply immersed in both Marx's and Lenin's writings. Johnson-Forest remained in the Socialist Workers Party until 1950, exiting with the book co-authored by James and Dunayevskaya, State Capitalism and World Revolution. In the three years Johnson-Forest remained in the Socialist Workers Party, James also participated in party discussions on the American “Negro question” (as it was then called), arguing for support for separate struggles of blacks as having the potential to ignite the entire U.S. political situation, as they in fact did in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

He was a vibrant speaker, even in his final years suffering from Parkinsons. He spoke of Hegel and Lenin, with a passion and an approach that clarified complex ideas and arguments in a language that was clear and straight forward. Bereft of sloganeering or jargon. And he was always approachable after his speeches, to discuss his ideas.

I had read his Black Jacobin's which we carried at our Anarchist bookstore; Erewhon Books. Whenever I watch the movie Burn! I think of it as an excellent example of the lessons taught by CLR James in that book.

But to hear the perpetual Old Man speak was always a treat and a joy. I was young, he was a grandfather figure. Even in his last years, fighting the spasms, he spoke with a vibrancy of life fighting death, spirit fighting oppression. He was an inspiration.

His influence in the Caribbean cannot be underestimated even today. His influence on Marxism cannot either, for he gave birth to the New Left when he and his tendency split with Trotsky and Trotskyism.

CLR James was a 20th Century Renaissance man.

West Indian émigré, political organiser, Marxist theorist, historian, literary and cultural critic, novelist, playwright and short-story writer, teacher, cricketer, sports commentator. C.L.R. James’s life work covered a strikingly wide range of interests. All of these were tied together by James’s rigorous method and integrated political vision. In the obituary published in The New York Times on May 31, 1989, his third wife and former political collaborator, Selma James, wrote:

C.L.R. James was fundamentally a political person and his great contribution was to break away from the very narrow and white male concept of what Marxist politics was. He saw the world, literature, sports, politics and music as one totality, and saw political life as embodying all of those, which was very different from the politics he walked into in the middle of the 1930s, first in England and then in the United States.

The intellectual legacy of Cyril Lionel Robert James is complex and controversial. Best known as the author of The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, James also made significant contributions in the fields of sport criticism, Caribbean history, literary criticism, Pan African politics and Marxist theory. Though many academics and political activists have attempted to do so, it is impossible to isolate any one period of James' life as his true legacy. Many have lamented the lack of "a coherent sense of James' life as an integrated whole." James' political and literary activities extended over five decades and several countries - including Trinidad, Britain, the United States and Ghana. Such a long and extensive career easily lends itself to interpretative debate. Yet any accurate assessment of James' work must begin with his origins. Above all else, James was a quintessentially Caribbean writer. Like George Lamming, Jean Rhys and many others, James had to expatriate himself to reach an audience. His eclectic pursuits developed largely in response to his circumstances - to changing conditions in world politics and his personal situation

See:

Black History Month; P.B. Randolph

Black History Month; Paul Lafargue

Trotsky


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CLR James, Marxism, Trotskyism, Caribbean, Pan-Africanism, radicals, The Black Jacobin's, cricket, writers, Marxists, socialists, black, black history month,

YOU HAVE A TEACHING TOOL IN YOUR WALLET

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Viola Desmond on the $10 note is a history lesson — but not everyone is learning

Kathy Hogarth remembers the day her then-10-year-old came home from school talking about Viola Desmond.

© Darren Calabrese/CP Wanda Robson, sister of Viola Desmond, holds the new $10 bank note featuring Desmond during a press conference in Halifax on Thursday, March 8, 2018.

"That, for me, represents the significance of highlighting Black figures," says Hogarth, a professor at the University of Waterloo's School of Social Work.

The year was 2018 and Desmond, the Black Nova Scotian who fought racial segregation in her province, had just become the new face of Canada's $10 bill.

READ MORE: Forgotten story of Toronto neighbourhood illustrates lack of Black history education

Hogarth's daughter relished seeing a Black woman on a banknote. Whenever Hogarth spent a $10 bill, her little girl would ask whether she had another one to hold on to.


Nova Scotia reimburses court fees, fine paid by civil rights icon Viola Desmond


Celebrating Black icons on a nation's currency "is a beautiful use of money," Hogarth says. "It goes far and wide, it touches every corner of our society."

For Nova Scotia Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard, the $10 bill is an opportunity to talk about Desmond's legacy, which goes beyond refusing to leave her seat in the "whites only" section of New Glasgow's Roseland Theatre in 1946.

Video: $10 bill featuring Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond unveiled

Desmond's fight for social justice started long before then, Thomas Bernard says. When she found she couldn't train as a beautician in Nova Scotia, she went to Montreal and then continued her schooling in Atlantic City and New York. When she couldn't find beauty products to service her clients of African descent, she made her own.

Seeing her on the $10 bill is a reminder that many African Nova Scotian families trace their histories back to the 18th century, Bernard says.

"It represents the significance of our very early presence here, and it recognizes the contributions that people of African descent have made to the country, to the province and to the world," she says.

Bernard hopes Canada will use its currency again to highlight parts of its Black and Indigenous history.

When asked about who she'd like to see on a banknote or coin, the first name that comes to mind, says Thomas Bernard, is Rita Joe, the Mi’kmaq poet.

"That we don't have anyone from the Indigenous communities on a banknote to me signals the fact that that needs to change," Thomas Bernard says.

Joe isn't among the eight iconic Canadians that have so far been shortlisted for the next $5 banknote. But the group does include Inuit artist Pitseolak Ashoona; Indigenous rights advocate and war hero Binaaswi (Francis Pegahmagabow); Siksika chief and diplomat Isapo-muxika, also known as Crowfoot; and Mohawk chief, war veteran and activist Onondeyoh (Frederick Ogilvie Loft).

The selection process followed a script similar to the one the Bank of Canada used for the $10 note, with a call for public input that resulted in submissions from nearly 45,000 people and more than 600 eligible nominees, the Bank told Global News. An independent Advisory Council then narrowed that list to eight candidates. It will be up to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to make a final decision, which is expected to come in early 2021. The new $5 note, however, won't be in circulation for another few years, the Bank of Canada said.

The Bank said it cannot yet speak to what will appear on future notes

Viola Desmond tribute among murals being added to Mulgrave Park in Halifax


There are many names that immediately come to mind as possible candidates for the next Black Canadian to appear on the country's currency, Thomas Bernard says. Her list includes Rosemary Brown, the B.C. politician who became the first Black female member of a provincial legislature. Brown also became the first woman to attempt to reach the helm of a federal party when she ran for the leadership of the NDP in 1975 with the slogan "Brown is Beautiful."

But, Thomas Bernard notes, "this country wasn't quite ready for a Black woman leader of a major political party."

Rev. Donald E. Fairfax, a long-time Nova Scotian pastor of two congregations and recipient of the Order of Canada, would also be an inspirational choice for a banknote or coin, Thomas Bernard says.

READ MORE: Saskatchewan’s Mattie Mayes leaves impact decades after her life

"Through his ministry, he was on the front lines for fighting for social justice," Thomas Bernard says. But not many Canadians know about his advocacy, because it happened behind the scenes, she says.

"He's a person that I would like to see elevated more."

Hogarth's list of possible candidates for the next note or coin includes Lincoln Alexander, the first Black Canadian Member of Parliament, cabinet minister and lieutenant-governor of Ontario; Elijah McCoy, a mechanical engineer and inventor; and Josiah Henson, who fled slavery to Canada in 1830 and founded the Dawn Settlement.

Henson was "integrally involved in the slave movement, (something) that we have divorced ourselves from as a nation ... without an acknowledgment of about 200 years of active slave engagement," Hogarth says.

‘The Queen is in good company’: Viola Desmond’s sister expresses gratitude for new $10 bill


The Royal Canadian Mint has no plans to re-design our current Canadian circulation coins, but has featured Black Canadians on its collector coins, including Desmond in 2019 and Willie O’Ree in 2020. Both were issued in conjunction with the start of Black History Month. For 2021, the Mint's third coin commemorating Black history in Canada commemorates the Black Loyalists.

But collectibles don't hold the potential for learning opportunities that currency — coins and banknotes in everybody's hands — has, Hogarth says.

"Probably the Bank of Canada doesn't necessarily see itself in a teaching role through currency," Hogarth says. "But inadvertently, they are."

But Canada is still failing to teach parts of its history, both Hogarth and Thomas Bernard say.

"We still talk about Black History Month, divorced from Canadian history," Hogarth says. "Black history is Canadian history."

And when Thomas Bernard showed a photo of Desmond's sister Wanda Robson holding the new $10 bill during a presentation for a Grade 3 class in Ajax, Ont. in February of last year, she says only one child knew who the woman on the note was: her grandson.

"We're missing the point if we're not teaching about this woman on the $10 bill," she says.

FLORIDA PARENTS MANDATED TO SIGN PERMISSION SLIP FOR STUDENTS TO CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH 

This is just bold....

by Sharelle Burt

February 8, 2024

A public school in Florida is asking parents to sign a permission slip – just so their children can participate in Black History Month activities.

Parents at IPrep Academy say they were shocked at the request from the administration. The form asks parents and guardians to decide if they want their kids to participate in “class and school-wide presentations showcasing the achievements and recognizing the rich and diverse traditions, histories, and innumerable contributions of the Black communities.”

One parent noted concern over the problematic ask.

“I was shocked,” Jill Peeling said. “I’m concerned. I’m concerned as a citizen.”

Peeling said initially, she thought she may have just misunderstood the form, but she was correct in her thoughts. 

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on numerous mandates on how state teachers are required to teach Black history – including extolling the benefits of slavery. One mandate from July 2023 pushed for lessons about Black history to be taught in an “objective” way and aimed not to “indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.”

Several lawmakers, including Byron Donald – Florida’s only Black Republican congressman – have bashed the antics against teaching Black history. But Florida is not the only state pushing against teaching Black history. Protests erupted after a conservative-dominant Missouri school board voted to remove Black history electives just months after canceling an anti-discrimination policy. 

African American history expert and Florida International University Professor Marvin Dunn says antics like this will create a generation of people who are misled about Black history.

“When parents become involved in making that decision, keeping some kids out, some kids in, you have unequal learning,” Dunn said. 

He continued to say that DeSantis’ administration’s interference in the classroom is inappropriate and will have serious consequences.

“The intent of the DeSantis attack on education is to make schools more cautious, to make teachers more cautious about what they teach, and it’s working,” he said. “It’s not about banning books necessarily. It’s about banning ideas.”

Miami-Dade School Board Member Steve Gallon says the permission slip was just the district following state board rules.

“We have to follow the law,” Gallon said, according to Business Insider. “Something feels very off here, and the fact that the school needs to cover themselves against the state feels even worse.”

He continued to claim the permission slip was just to get parental consent for when individuals come on campus.

ROYAL CANADIAN MINT COMMEMORATES BLACK HISTORY WITH SILVER COIN RECOGNIZING THE SETTLERS OF AMBER VALLEY, ALBERTA

NEWS PROVIDED BY  Royal Canadian Mint

OTTAWA, ON, Jan. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In launching the latest issue in its ongoing Commemorating Black History fine silver coin series, the Royal Canadian Mint is honouring the community of Amber Valley, Alberta, founded in 1910 by African American families from Oklahoma, Texas and other surrounding states. Seeking a life away from segregationist laws, racial hostility and violence, they journeyed to Northern Alberta in response to the government of Canada's offer of free land in the Canadian west. By 1910, approximately 300 men, women and children endured and overcame new hardships as they tamed the Alberta wilderness to carve out a new life in a thriving community that was renamed Amber Valley in 1931. Their inspiring tale of spirit and determination is forever preserved on a beautiful 99.99% pure silver collector coin.

The Royal Canadian Mint's 2024 Commemorating Black History: Amber Valley Fine Silver Coin

Released in conjunction with the annual observance of Black History Month, the 2024 $20 Fine Silver Coin – Commemorating Black History: Amber Valley celebrates the legacy of an exceptional group men and women who built one of Western Canada's earliest Black settlements. It is available as of today.

"I appreciate the recognition this coin represents," said Myrna Wisdom, Historian and Co-Founder of The Black Settlers of Alberta and Saskatchewan Historical Society. "The Black Settlers of Amber Valley are indeed deserving of this recognition, which includes both my paternal and maternal grandparents, as well as my parents."

"The Royal Canadian Mint is proud to contribute to the national celebration of Canada's Black History Month through a continuing series of silver collector coins that captures important stories that define our shared heritage," said Marie Lemay, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint. "We are delighted to share the inspiring story of Amber Valley and the pioneering Black settlers who succeeded in building a new life in a new land, as yet another example of the spirit and resilience of Black communities across Canada."

The reverse design of this 99.99% pure silver coin, by artist Valentine De Landro, is centered on an imagined scene of a homesteader family arriving in Pine Creek, Alberta in 1909 and peering over the land that would become the thriving community of Amber Valley. The design includes a map outline of the province of Alberta, enhanced by a bough of maple leaves. The lower portion of the reverse depicts a wagon train of settlers completing their long journey from the southern United States. The scene is framed by log cabins, which were the first houses built by the intrepid Black pioneers who were determined to make a new home in Northern Alberta.

"For the composition, I needed to find a balance between what I thought were two prevailing characteristics: the journey and the community," said artist Valentine De Landro. "The pioneering imagery was essential to communicating the spirit of Amber Valley, crossing through harsh terrain to reach a virtually unknown destination and to begin a legacy centred on the goal of a better life for their family."

The obverse of the coin features the Susanna Blunt-designed transitional effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, which includes a special marking consisting of a vertical inscription of the dates "1952" and "2022", separated by four pearls to symbolize the four effigies that have graced Canadian coins throughout the reign.

Limited to a mintage of 5,500, the 2024 $20 Fine Silver Coin - Commemorating Black History: Amber Valley retails for $104.95. This new collectible may be ordered as of today by contacting the Mint at 1-800-267‑1871 in Canada, 1-800-268‑6468 in the US, or at www.mint.ca. It will also be available at the Royal Canadian Mint's boutiques in Ottawa and Winnipeg, at participating Canada Post outlets, and through the Mint's global network of dealers and distributors.

Images of this coin are available here.

The Real Reason Florida Wants to Ban AP African-American Studies, According to an Architect of the Course


Olivia B. Waxman
Wed, February 1, 2023

W.E.B. DUBOIS FOUNDER OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY 

In 1513, Juan Garrido, a free conquistador from the Kingdom of Kongo, became the first known African to arrive in North America when he explored what’s now Florida via a Spanish expedition.

Now, in 2023, Florida, the state where Black history began in America, is blocking an in-depth Black history class from being offered in its schools.

Garrido’s story is in the official framework for AP African American Studies, the College Board’s newest Advanced Placement course in nearly a decade. The course framework was viewed by TIME in advance of its release on Feb. 1, the beginning of Black History Month. As TIME previously reported, the course is being piloted at 60 schools nationwide.

But in January, the Florida Department of Education informed the College Board that it would not approve the curriculum unless certain changes are made. Among the course materials it objected to are references to Black Lives Matter and reparations. According to the official framework, students are not required to know about these topics for the AP exam, but they are listed as examples of possible research topics students may want to pursue.

Elaborating on the decision in a Jan. 23 press conference, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a former history teacher and college history major, said, “We want education not indoctrination,” arguing that the class is “pushing an agenda on our kids.”

Florida has become a ground-zero for the latest front of the culture wars. Last spring, DeSantis signed into law the STOP W.O.K.E. Act, which aimed to regulate how schools and workplaces talk about race and gender. Though a federal judge blocked a provision aimed at private businesses, it’s still had a chilling effect. College professors are opting not to teach classes on racism, and there are restrictions on professional development opportunities for teachers aimed at preventing critical race theory from being taught in K-12 schools (even though it’s rarely taught below the graduate level).

While Florida teachers are required to teach African American history, AP African American Studies would offer students a chance to earn college credit. On Jan. 25, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump announced he’s ready to sue DeSantis, with three AP honors students as lead plaintiffs.

To comment on Florida’s criticism of the curricula, TIME talked to one of its architects, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, professor of history and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. The College Board created the course, and Higginbotham and her Harvard colleague Henry Louis Gates Jr. were the primary scholars who reviewed it.

In the below conversation, she explains what’s in the course and what’s not in the course.
TIME: What’s your reaction to the Florida Department of Education’s criticisms about the AP African American Studies pilot?

HIGGINBOTHAM: Those narratives that they were singling out aren’t in the curriculum itself. What they see is buzzwords. They are picking on buzzwords that they know will inflame the hearts of some of their constituency. Communism was a buzzword in the 1950s against interracial marriage. If you were interracially married in the South, you became a communist. If people have political reasons for not wanting to see this [course], then no matter what arguments you give them, it won’t matter. So at this point, what I’m just interested in is stating what this course is and what we will do. And it’s exciting.

Governor DeSantis claims AP African American Studies is pushing “queer theory.”

We’re not pushing theory. Those things come up. Theory is replete in academia. Critical race theory built off of critical legal theory. Critical legal theory isn’t Black. Theory is everywhere. You’ve got Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection, Einstein’s theory of relativity, bad theorists who are absolutely racist like Morton and Agassiz [who tried to use science to claim Blacks were inferior]. You’ve got religious theories. Theory is a part of higher education. But that’s not what this course is about.

And DeSantis says he wants to focus on American history, focus on the “great figures.”

That’s a very old fashioned way of thinking about history. American history is not the American history of the great white male anymore. America wasn’t made by just simply the people who left their autobiographies, libraries, and manuscript papers in the Library of Congress.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) presents the 2014 National Humanities Medal to Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (L) during an East Room ceremony at the White House September 10, 2015, in Washington, DC. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham was honored for illuminating the African-American journey in her writings and edited volumes.

Alex Wong—Getty ImagesMore

The governor also says AP African American Studies would “indoctrinate” students. ​

One of our goals is to have students look at topics from a variety of angles. This is the farthest thing from indoctrination. How you look at a subject from different angles is best done through interdisciplinary work. And this is an interdisciplinary course.

The big difference is that when you indoctrinate, you are not seeking a questioning mind. You’re just trying to put an idea into pretty much a blank mind and think that that will be accepted unquestioningly. This is exactly the opposite of what the AP course is doing. The AP course is trying to give a sense of the different ways to talk about a particular topic. And so there’s room for debates on a variety of things.

One of the major points that comes out of this course is that Black people are not a monolith. The people of African descent are themselves of different ethnicities, of different ideologies and political persuasions. They are different as far as income, as far as education. And we’re trying to capture that complexity. There’s certain things that will be similar. But the richness of it is the complexity within a narrative that allows for students to disagree. And we want students to disagree. We want respectful and civil debate.

What are myths or misconceptions about the AP African American Studies pilot that you have found yourself debunking or having to set the record straight on?

Governor DeSantis said [Florida has] Black history, but [AP African American Studies] is a different type of Black history. No. This is a Black history that is based on facts and not theories. It is a Black history that uses primary sources, meaning those records of the times—the newspapers of the time, letters, correspondences, archival records of the times. It means looking at our laws, our Constitution, our judicial decisions. It means reading the Congressional Record. So this isn’t something that is made up.

For many people, the idea of kingdoms in Africa will be shocking because when I was growing up, watching television as a child in the 1950s and early 1960s, there was the portrayal of African people as though they were merely savages. And those kinds of images were everywhere, even children’s games. People of African descent should be understood in a new light.

The biggest misperception is that this is somehow neophyte. African American Studies is over 50 years in the academy. And when it first started in the academy, it started in the white schools. Over 200 primarily white schools had Black studies in one form or another—programs, centers, departments—in 1969. This is not some ghettoized knowledge that will not land you a job.
Am I understanding this correctly from reading the pilot curriculum—that the Governor of the state where Black history in America begins is now trying to ban an in-depth course on African American history?

Yes. Absolutely. Obviously he doesn’t know American history, or Florida history.

The first time Black people came to North America was not in 1619. I have to remind people that when we talk about Jamestown, we’re talking about the British. When we talk about Black people, we’ve got to go into the earlier century—and that earlier century is the story of Florida. That’s one of the ironies of this whole resistance on the part of the governor, because the story of Florida, which was settled by the Spanish, starts in the early 1500s.

Did you know that in 1528, Africans were part of an expedition to settle in an area which would be near present-day Tampa Bay? It’s not until 1565 that St. Augustine is established [in present-day Florida]. Well, St. Augustine is the oldest surviving city in the United States. Enslaved Blacks and some free Blacks were crucial in the building of that city, along with whites, and along with some native indigenous people. Then as early as the early 1700s, St. Augustine develops this Black town called Fort Mose. The Spanish governor of Florida chartered this settlement called Fort Mose. And it was a settlement for free Blacks and also a settlement for slaves of the British that were fleeing to Florida from South Carolina. I would love to see teachers take the students there.