Teacher creates Black history curriculum for states where it is being rolled back
American history and Black history are not two separate classes at Camden's Promise Charter School.
"All the things that more than likely folks don't want in their AP History course or like the stuff that's being banned all over the country. That's what I include," said Rann Miller, Educator and Author.
It's all taught in the same class.
"So the stuff that like Ron DeSantis was taking out in Florida, those folks in Arkansas, and all those places, that stuff is in my curriculum," he said.
He pushed back on claims that courses like his lack educational value.
"I think the way that we can overcome some of the matters is by really learning and understanding and really critically thinking about all of these matters in a way where we cannot be afraid to confront things, but to confront them together. That happens with education," Miller said.
That's what Miller, 41, did when he was asked to develop a Black history curriculum for states where it's being rolled back.
"I was re-approached by the folks to say, hey, can we remove some of this language? Can we kind of temper it down a bit?" Miller said.
And then...
"They took the curriculum, but they did not use the curriculum," Miller said.
"So basically, you were hired, you did the work, they were paying, but it never saw the light of day," Eyewitness News Reporter Darla Miles said.
"No, it did not," Miller said.
Sonya Douglass is the founding director of the Black Education Research Center at Columbia Teachers College.
"When we listen to the accounts of those who may be more conservative in their views and do not want the teaching of slavery of race to be taught, we still find that three-quarters of Americans in a poll that we conducted, actually support the teaching of Black studies," Douglass said.
"Do you find people conflate the two, Black history and critical race theory? Because are they not two different things?" Miles asked.
"These are two very different things. This is also the challenge of the director of the Black Education Research Center," Douglass said. "A lot of terms I think, are being turned are being thrown around without a full understanding of what they really mean. And so, this is also an opportunity to clearly explain the terms and make sure that people understand, you know, the concepts that really underlie those things."
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