Governor Ralph Northam wishes to strengthen African American history teaching in Virginia schools.
Deep learning on African American history
An executive order by Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia founded an education commission with effectivity starting last August 2019. The commission was tasked to create recommendations in order to establish more accurate and reliable information regarding black history for state education in Virginia.
According to Gov. Northam:
Black history in Virginia is difficult, complex, and often untold. Most schools are unequipped and inaccurate in teaching African American history to their students.
Virginia education standards must apply to every subject taught in state education. African American history is part of this learning and should be strengthened to create an equal opportunity for those interested in learning deeper about black history and its connection to present communities.
The concept is to revamp the current curriculum to remove inaccurate information and replace it with reliable and correct timestamps in black history. It will be a long and tedious task, the commission will ask the help of Public Instruction Superintendent James Lane, to filter change requests and issue school memorandums for immediate amendments.
The commemoration of 400 years of history in our commonwealth at Fort Monroe, marks the initiative of raising awareness regarding race and equity that many have sought to see in this lifetime.
-Gov. Northam
Black oppression is a serious and deep issue that children should well understand. The oppression didn’t stop when the end of slavery was cast, it is still well alive today, in different forms nonetheless.
Few teachers were delighted with this initiative from lawmakers on considering equality in learning history. Previous American history books do not mention much on slavery and African American history and their contributions.
History curriculum coordinator for Virginia, Christonya Brown suggested that teachers should shift their history teaching methods from standard ways into conceptual and culturally responsive learning.
Virginia is a historical heritage, let the students explore our 400 years of history, get out of their classrooms and be interactive with what we have around us.
