During the school years 2022-23 to 2024-25, the State Department of Education must conduct an annual audit to ensure that the Black and Latino studies course is being offered by each Board of Education in the state.
Among those testifying at the Capitol last year were students, including those attending colleges and high schools throughout Connecticut.
Jonaya-Mone Muse, a student at the University of New Haven, “grew up in a predominately white school system where I was always one of few black students. Only time I learned about black history was during the month of February because the teachers felt obligated to teach it … Every year I learned about the same civil rights leaders, the same marches, and the same laws that were passed and denied.”
Khalil Lovejoy, a sophomore at University High School of Science and Engineering in Hartford, stressed that “Black history is not only slavery… I would love to learn about Black Wall Street, Nat Turner, Brown vs. Board of Education, and less explored topics in our history.”
Testifying on behalf of Connecticut Voices for Children, Wendy Waithe Simmons pointed out that “It is important for children to see their race and culture’s past reflected in their curriculum so that they know what it possible for themselves. I have friend whose son’s teacher told him recently that they there was not enough time to recognize Black History month in their class. It was a micro-aggression that was painful to him as well as his parents. These statues will ensure that no child will have to hear in the future that his or her cultural is not important enough to learn about in school.”
“Understanding lessons from the past, and teaching students about the strength of our diversity as a nation, is the first step towards building a stronger and healthier multicultural society in the 21st Century,” testified Steve Ginsburg, Director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Connecticut Regional Office.
Jan Hochadel, President, AFT CT, representing over 15,000 teachers and other school related personnel, said “While we work to make our workforce more diverse, our current teachers need to be encouraged to teach the history of people of color and be provided the materials necessary to do so effectively.”
“You cannot tell the American Story without telling the African American Story, it is impossible,” Esdaile added. “We have influenced every hamlet, town, city, county and State in America. We have participated in every war in which our Ancestors gave their lives to protect the Freedoms of this Country for the last 400 Years… This Act and Bill is well overdue.”
NEXT: The process of developing the curriculum and course syllabus is now well underway. Even with obstacles presented by COVID-19 restrictions, SERC has moved forward, with appointment of a nearly 150-member Advisory Group, and additional input from focus groups and surveys of state residents. What’s happening now, next, in part two.
