“For decades, Black history has been largely ignored or diminished by school curriculum,” Ford said. “It’s critically important that we take steps on a state level to establish guidelines for teaching Black history, and this includes reviewing the textbooks that we use. Black history matters, and by understanding it we can help create a better, shared understanding of the challenges that Black Americans have had to endure and continue to face. If we are to end racism in Illinois we must teach the complete history of Black Americans.”
Ford introduced legislation (House Bill 4954) earlier this year that would require a unit of study of Black history in all public elementary and secondary schools. Such study would focus on the history of the African slave trade and why Black people came to be enslaved, the practice and vestiges of slavery in America, the study of pre-enslavement history of Black people and contributions to medicine, literature, technology and other advancements, and instruction on the socio-economic struggle Black Americans experience collectively in striving to achieve fair and equal treatment under the law.
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