As Americans celebrate Black History Month, Louisiana’s public school system and students can also celebrate having maybe the finest set of academic standards that portray and require the teaching of the black experience in the United States of America.

The history, experience, trials, and achievements of African Americans and People of Color in these content standards are possibly the most extensive and far reaching to ever be delivered to public schools in the country.

It’s just one more thing for our people to be proud of where public education is concerned, especially coming on the heels of Louisiana showing amazing progress on the Nation’s Report Card which came out last week.

As part of a programmed review and refresh of standards in 2021-22, the Department of Education, under the steady hand of Dr. Cade Brumley and with the assistance of the nearly 2000 citizens from Louisiana came together to create what some have called “The Freedom Framework.” This collaborative effort resulted in an extensive and details-oriented set of facts and events that are offered up to ensure Louisiana’s students are educated in depth about their history, civics, and geography.

As a critical component of this effort, the African American experience and history were strengthened and codified and are currently the most accurate and expansive in the history of Louisiana. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education provided the framework and empowerment for these events to occur.

All students in Louisiana’s schools will be taught the history of the African people who were by and large brought to the United States in the bondage of slavery. The standards chronicle how blacks endured unspeakable hardships, were fought over and later freed, contributed and often excelled in the United States and in Louisiana. The history of the kingdoms in Africa, the slave trade that brought so many to the American continent, the war that changed the course of American history and the arduous days of reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era are well documented in the new standards.  The most important figures and events in African American history are chronicled at all grade levels and all of Louisiana’s students will receive a world-class education on these and other facts. Many themes and events are covered in multiple grades to ensure emphasis and appropriate coverage.

A review of the totality of the standards is revealing when key terms, events and people are analyzed. Citizens interested in seeing the standards in their totality can find them at the link below. Also provided is a list of terms, events and important figures in the African American history and experience that will be taught in Louisiana’s public schools. Key words are listed alphabetically, with the number of instructional occurrences in grades Kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Louisiana citizens should be proud that their state has crafted an absolutely world-class framework that will certainly be used as a model by other states.   Parents of school children should be confident that their students will be offered curriculums that teach the entire American experience which appropriately and proudly includes the experiences of those of African descent.  The State now has a unbiased review of the entirety of our nation’s history with an emphasis on our exceptionalism and constant pursuit of a more perfect union.

K-12 Content Standards 2022-k-12-louisiana-student-standards-for-social-studies.pdf (louisianabelieves.com)

Louisiana state representative Charles Owen is a member of the Rural Caucus, The Louisiana Freedom Caucus, the Republican Delegation, and the Central Louisiana Delegation.