Our history involves both hard facts and interpretation — the context in which the hard facts are presented. Interpretation inevitably is political and contested. How we see the past reflects how we live in the present and what we hope for in the future.
That’s what makes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts to impose a new curriculum for public school instruction on African American history both revealing and repellent. A furor has grown about the new state guidelines for the history of slavery, which call for students to learn that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”