“Far too often, [African-American] contributions are confined to lessons about slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, or even limited to Martin Luther King's ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” Sen. Dora Drake said. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

As the Trump administration pulls down displays on Black history, Wisconsin state Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) and Rep. Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) are renewing their push for Wisconsin to bolster education on African-American history in schools.

Their bill would require the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to work with a handful of organizations, including the African American/Jewish Friendship Group, Inc., the Wisconsin Black Historical Society, America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin system, to develop a model curriculum on African-American history for each grade from kindergarten through high school. The bill would have Black history instruction incorporated into model academic standards for social studies.

“African Americans have lived in Wisconsin for over 300 years — long before we officially became a state. Our ancestors, our heritage and our culture have shaped the development of our state and our nation in so many ways,” Stubbs said. “Unfortunately, the history lessons that are being taught to our children and the course of their education do not always reflect the fact.”

Stubbs said the bill would help students be better informed, develop empathy and an appreciation for Black perspectives and experiences. 

“By actively working with community partners, who have extensive background and study and teach in African-American history, we’ll ensure that the information being shared with students is thorough, it’s accurate and is culturally sensitive,” Stubbs said.

Wisconsin already has a state statute that requires that school boards provide students with “an understanding of human relations, particularly with regard to American Indians, Black Americans, Hispanics, Hmong Americans, and Asian Americans,” and that law was recently changed by the state Legislature to include instruction about the state’s Hmong and Asian American communities.

But the lawmakers argue the state needs to go further.

“While there is language in the statutes to promote the understanding of human relations with regards to marginalized groups, we lack stronger language, specifically requiring the development of rigorous, developmentally appropriate curriculum with regard to the African-American history,” Stubbs said. 

Former state Rep. LaKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee) and former Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) first introduced the proposal in 2021 following an uptick of racially insensitive incidents at schools. 

The bill would require public school boards, independent charter schools and private schools to include instruction on African American history. DPI would need to hire three education consultants to assist schools with updating curriculum. The bill includes an appropriation of $384,000 for this purpose.

The bill would also prohibit DPI from granting a teaching license if someone hasn’t received instruction in African-American history. 

Drake said that schools focusing on limited pieces of Black history overlook the “breadth and the depth” of Black history and allow for “misconceptions, misinterpretations and inaccurate history and historical lessons.”

“Far too often, [African-American] contributions are confined to lessons about slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, or even limited to Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” Drake said. 

The civil right leader’s speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. has been a point of discussion recently among Wisconsin lawmakers, including Drake, as his speech has been used to justify a constitutional amendment proposal to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Wisconsin local and state government. 

Drake noted that the introduction of the bill comes as the National Park Service and federal agencies under leadership of President Donald Trump have been removing Black historical figures and events from their websites and museums. She specifically noted the removal of an exhibit titled “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” that memorialized nine people enslaved by George Washington at the presidential mansion by the National Park Service at the direction of Trump earlier this month.

“Their stories were removed,” Drake said. “This instance is far too similar to the millions of African-Americans’ stories that have been lost and forgotten.”

Drake said the bill would ensure that erasure doesn’t happen in Wisconsin by incorporating Black history into the state’s K-12 curriculum. She said students would learn about pivotal moments and figures including those who fought in the American Revolution, led rebellions against slavery, including Nat Turner, built thriving communities during the Reconstruction Era including Black Wall Street, and championed civil rights.

William Greer, the retired CEO of Journey Mental Health Center, Inc., a historical fiction writer and a member of the African American/Jewish Friendship Group, said he received little  education on Black history in high school and as a student at UW-Madison, where he went to school with the goal of becoming an English teacher.

“I came away from those experiences with only your rudimentary knowledge of the contribution of African-Americans,” Greer said. “This left me with an impression of self-doubt.”

Greer said he later educated himself on Black writers, including James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston. It changed the trajectory of his life.

“I discovered that the fortitude and resilience of Black people did not begin or end in America. This discovery struck the shackles from my mind, and I was finally able to dream with purpose,” Greer said. “In today’s climate the stakes are too high to leave this critical learning to chance… America is the only country in the world that routinely has the word ‘dream’ attached to its name. People from all over the world come here in pursuit of the American Dream. Freedom, opportunity and diversity are the underpinnings of that dream and if you remove any one of these pillars, the dream will crumble.”

The African American/Jewish Friendship Group is a nonprofit group that was started by Merle and Gerald Sternberg in 1990 to improve race relations in Dane County. 

The bill was announced just days before the start of Black History Month, though Merle Sternberg said education on Black history needs to go beyond February. She said teaching American history without including African-American history “would be like teaching math without addition or subtraction.” 

“African-American history is U.S history and that traditional way of highlighting a few key figures and events during Black History Month is no longer sufficient,” Sternberg said. “Now more than ever, we need to give voice to Black history, not silence it.”

The bill would need to advance in the state Senate and Assembly, which are controlled by Republicans, to become law.

“This is something that should be supported by everyone,” Drake told reporters. “So it’ll be sent out for a cosponsorship and we’ll continue to have conversations to see if they can get it in the public hearing.”