Florida students are sacrificing their Saturday mornings to fill gaps in Black history education left by their schools. In community centers and cultural institutions across the state, they’re learning lessons about Florida’s slave-holding past, the Civil Rights Movement, and the enduring impact of segregation—topics often overlooked in their classrooms.
On Saturday mornings in Delray Beach, Charlene Farrington gathers teenagers in an old wooden bungalow at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum to teach lessons she fears public schools won’t cover. Students learn about South Florida’s Caribbean roots, the state’s history of lynchings, segregation’s enduring impact on neighborhoods, and the grassroots activism that fueled the Civil Rights Movement, according to a report.
“You need to know how it happened before so you can decide how you want it to happen again,” Farrington tells her students as they sit in a room filled with historic photographs illuminated by morning sunlight.
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These weekend programs, supported by Black churches and community groups, aim to fill the gaps left by Florida’s education system. Since launching its Black history toolkit last year, advocacy group Faith in Florida reports that more than 400 congregations have pledged to teach these lessons.
Although Florida has mandated the teaching of African American history for 30 years, many families feel the state’s approach falls short. By official metrics, only 12 of Florida’s school districts meet the criteria for excellence in Black history education, which includes integrating the content year-round and engaging school boards and community partners.
Critics argue that Black history instruction in schools often centers on well-known figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, largely confined to Black History Month. Frustrated parents like Sulaya Williams have taken matters into their own hands.
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In 2016, Williams founded an organization to teach Black history in community settings, ensuring her children and others learn their heritage. Now contracted to teach Saturday classes at a public library in Fort Lauderdale, she sees the impact firsthand.
“It feels like I’m really learning my culture, like I’m learning what my ancestors did,” said her 12-year-old daughter, Addah Gordon. “Most people don’t know what they did.”
The African American history mandate, passed unanimously by Florida lawmakers in 1994, came at a time of reckoning. That same year, the state approved reparations for survivors of the 1923 Rosewood massacre, when a white mob destroyed a predominantly Black town. But historians and advocates say the initial momentum has since waned.
Today, the teaching of Black history faces new challenges under Governor Ron DeSantis, whose administration has restricted discussions on race, history, and discrimination in schools. In 2022, DeSantis signed legislation limiting race-based conversations and banning the teaching of concepts suggesting collective guilt for past actions. His administration also blocked a proposed Advanced Placement course on African American Studies, deeming it historically inaccurate and in violation of state law.
With public schools increasingly constrained, many educators and advocates are turning to community initiatives.
“People who are interested in advancing African diaspora history can’t rely on schools to do that,” said Tameka Bradley Hobbs, who manages Broward County’s African-American Research Library and Cultural Center. “There needs to be self-reliance and self-determination in preserving the history and heritage of our ancestors.”
Even in districts offering standalone Black history classes, such courses are mostly found in larger urban areas, leaving students in rural communities underserved. Teachers also report feeling pressured to avoid violating state laws, which limits how deeply they can explore the subject.
“There are so many kids we’re missing because we’re tiptoeing around what is essentially American history,” said Brian Knowles, who oversees cultural studies for Palm Beach County schools.
Frustrated by these limitations, some educators, like Renee O’Connor, have taken sabbaticals to develop independent Black history programs. Now back in the classroom, O’Connor continues to work with community groups to bring history lessons outside the confines of the public school system.
“I wish all kids could take an African American history class,” O’Connor said. “But if it’s not happening in schools, you have to pivot.”
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