Kamala Harris to travel to Florida and speak out against state's new Black history standards

FOLLOW NBC NEWS F EXCLUSIVE WHITE HOUSE Kamala Harris to travel to Florida and speak out against state's new Black history standards The standards, approved Wednesday, teach students that some Black people benefited from slavery because it provided them with useful skills. US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a meeting with civil rights leaders and consumer protection experts to discuss the societal impact of artificial intelligence, in the Eisenhower Executive Office building in Washington, DC, on July 12, 2023. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office building in Washington on July 12.Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images file SAVE July 20, 2023, 8:40 PM EDT / Updated July 20, 2023, 11:01 PM EDT By Zoë Richards Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to travel to Florida on Friday to deliver critical remarks in response to the state Board of Education's approval of new standards for how Black history will be taught in schools. The trip to Jacksonville will highlight efforts to "protect fundamental freedoms, specifically, the freedom to learn and teach America’s full and true history," a White House official said in an announcement first shared with NBC News. Harris, whose mother was a civil rights activist, will also meet with parents, educators, civil rights leaders and elected officials, the official said. Her last trip to Florida was in April. In remarks Thursday, Harris blasted efforts in some states to ban books and “push forward revisionist history.” “Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” she said at a convention for the traditionally Black sorority Delta Sigma Theta Inc. “They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.” The Florida Board of Education approved new standards Wednesday in a 216-page document detailing how public schools should approach Black history, including teaching students that some Black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills that could be used for their “personal benefit.” Changes to the curriculum were required by a 2022 law known as the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act,” or “Stop WOKE Act,” NBC South Florida reported. Recommended 2024 ELECTION DeSantis set to start using new fundraising vehicle as campaign faces staff cuts The new framework has been sharply criticized by the Florida Education Association, a statewide teachers’ union representing about 150,000 teachers, as a “step backward.” William Allen and Frances Presley Rice, who are members of Florida’s African American History Standards Workgroup, defended the new standards in a statement, calling them “rigorous and comprehensive” and saying they aimed to show “that some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefitted.” The topic of voting rights, gun violence and women’s choices about their own bodies, will also be addressed during Harris’ visit, the White House official said. Harris has played a more prominent role in recent months in the administration’s efforts to cast gun safety measures and abortion protections as a bid to protect fundamental freedoms. In April, she traveled to Nashville after state GOP lawmakers ousted two Black Democratic legislators, who have since been reinstated, for protesting against gun violence on the chamber floor. Zoë Richards Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News. SPONSORED / SMART IPHONE SECURITY iPhone Users Don't Forget To Do This Before Thursday HEAR.COM / SPONSORED This Is The Highest Rated Hearing Aid In The US TOP TRAVEL NURSING JOBS | SEARCH ADS / SPONSORED Average Nurse Salary In 2023 Is Just Mind Blowing! (See List) BUZZDAILY WINNERS / SPONSORED Casinos Hate When You Do This, But This is Not Cheating BUZZDAILY WINNERS / SPONSORED Casinos Hate When You Do This, But They Can Do Nothing More From NBC News NBC NEWS / SHOP Are Apple AirTags actually worth it? We say yes. NBC NEWS / NEWS Wife of radiologist who drove Tesla off Calif. cliff with family inside said he did it 'on purpose,' unsealed docs reveal NBC NEWS / NEWS 11-year-old Florida girl arrested after prank-texting 911 to say her friend was kidnapped as part of a YouTube challenge NBC NEWS / POLITICS Some Senate Democrats urge Biden to prepare to invoke the 14th Amendment to tackle the debt limit TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS / SPONSORED Military glasses make their debut in the US and become a fever among fishermen and drivers WOLF & SHEPHERD / SPONSORED Thousands of Men Wear These Shoes For Its First Class Comfort NBC NEWS / POLITICS Judge recuses himself from Disney suit against DeSantis and accuses governor of 'rank judge-shopping' ABOUT CONTACT HELP CAREERS AD CHOICES PRIVACY POLICY YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES CA NOTICE NEW TERMS OF SERVICE (UPDATED JULY 7, 2023) NBC NEWS SITEMAP ADVERTISE SELECT SHOPPING SELECT PERSONAL FINANCE © 2023 NBC UNIVERSAL ­