Of all the debate over teaching U.S. slavery, it is one sentence of Florida's revised academic standards that has provoked particular ire: 'Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.'
As this line of thinking goes, enslaved ancestors of contemporary African Americans labored just as most contemporary Americans' ancestors labored: at the bottom, but able to climb up the social ladder with hard work and discipline.
But it is a commonly used method that is called a"switching mechanism." In this example, the story about the horrors of the slave system is transformed into a story about opportunity, success and the American dream.at Colonial Williamsburg, we encountered the same narrative switching mechanism that is occurring now in Florida.
"Consider that your average white yeoman farmer of the time had an annual income of about 20 pounds. Now consider that a highly trained slave cook was worth 500 pounds. Would your average owner be likely to abuse such a valuable piece of property? No! They'd treat that slave like an NFL quarterback!"
At the conclusion of the story, we talked to two members of the audience who, it turns out, had learned different lessons.
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