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In the face of attempts by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to ban AP African American studies, social justice books, and critical race theory in K–12 schools, we take a look at stories in Florida history that would be off limits to students.

These include stories about the Seminole anticolonial struggle, Reconstruction era organizing, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston, the Ocoee and Rosewood Massacres, the Groveland Four, the Tallahassee Bus Boycott, civil rights activists’ call for “Jail, No Bail,” Ax Handle Saturday (as awful as it sounds), St. Augustine swim-in, Muhammad Ali victory, Florida teachers’ strike, the murders of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, and more.

DeSantis and Florida education officials know that when students learn from history, they demand and can organize to shape a more just future.

We support the thousands of teachers in Florida who bravely teach outside the textbook, making people’s history themselves.

Philadelphia Union League Honors Gov. Ron DeSantis

(Who Banned Teaching Union League History)

Protesters at the Union League award reception for Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 24 Source: Kimberly Paynter/ WHYY

The Union League of Philadelphia gave Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis its highest award on Jan. 24. High school teacher, Reconstruction lesson author, and Rethinking Schools editor Adam Sanchez wrote a response in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Here is an excerpt.

By Adam Sanchez

While they started as wealthy, white social clubs in the North, as the Union Leagues spread across the South, they became something very different. The Union Leagues of the South were multiracial organizations of poor people that defended the gains of Reconstruction. They educated Black and white voters, trained and nominated Black and white candidates, and organized marches to the polls, often armed, on Election Day. They not only mobilized for Republican candidates, but fought for economic and racial justice. They led boycotts and strikes against racist employers, they defended white and Black leaders from white supremacist attacks, and they fought for justice and against the criminalization of Black people.

Florida’s 2021 anti-critical race theory law, which Ron DeSantis has championed, forbids teaching that “racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons.” How could one teach the history of the Union Leagues without acknowledging this truth? 

On Feb. 6, 2023, Jeanne Theoharis and Jesse Hagopian will share and discuss clips from the new documentary The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, based on Theoharis' book of the same title. Join us!

Find more events, including a workshop in Brattleboro on teaching Reconstruction. A reminder: The deadline for National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) workshop proposals is Feb. 17.

Teachers are under attack for teaching truthfully about U.S. history. Please donate so that we can continue to offer free people’s history lessons and resources, and defend teachers’ right to use them.

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