Florida bill named after VP Harris would require teaching Democrats were “party of slavery”

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — How slavery should be taught in schools is back on the agenda for some Florida Republicans.

The bill, dubbed the “Kamala Harris Truth in Slavery Teaching Act,” was introduced by Tampa Bay Republican Senator Blaise Ingoglia Wednesday.

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If passed, it would require students learn that Democrats were the “party of slavery,” Ingoglia said.

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Ingoglia tells Channel 9 the impetus of the bill was the Vice President’s visit to Jacksonville last summer where she blasted the new African American History Standards.

The new standards state “instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

“One of the things that she [Harris] said was that we expect when we send our children to school, that they get taught the truth.

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So the truth is, is that the democrat party was, in fact, the party of slavery,” Ignoglia said.

It would require students learn about the sociopolitical circumstances surrounding slavery-- including the political parties’ stances.

Ingoglia made clear the intent is to teach that southern Democrats in the 19th century promoted and defended slavery.

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“Now, that is a truth that the Democrats don’t want you to know,” Ingoglia said. “I think and so does Representative Michael. We both think that that is the right thing to teach to students, is which parties were basically adopted pro-slavery tenants, in which party actually was born out of defeating slavery. And obviously those to the Democrat Party and the Republican Party, respectively.”

The proposed bill doesn’t mention when Republican and Democratic parties’ ideologies flipped between the Reconstruction Era and the 1960s.

It also doesn’t address the push by Democrats in 1964 to pass the Civil Rights Act, led by Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson.

State Senator Geraldine Thompson is a member of the African American History Task Force and a former educator.

She says the bill is purely political.

“It really is not about the education of our children. And I think we ought to be focusing our attention on affordable housing, on dealing with property insurance,” Thompson said.

This isn’t the first time Senator Ingoglia has introduced a bill like this.

Last session, he filed a bill that would have eliminated the Florida Democratic Party, citing any party that supported slavery in the past.

The bill never received a hearing.

Legislators will officially begin their 2024 session on Jan. 9 and it runs until March 8.

If passed, the bill will go into effect on July 1.

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