A Florida textbook publisher removed all references of race from a lesson about civil rights icon Rosa Parks in order to get a Florida committee’s approval, according to The New York Times.
In the current lesson by Studies Weekly, which is used in 45,000 elementary schools, the event is described: “The law said African Americans had to give up their seats on the bus if a white person wanted to sit down.”
But in an early version created for Florida’s review by Studies Weekly, the lesson changed to: “She was told to move to a different seat because of the color of her skin.”
In the group’s second updated version, race is removed completely from the lesson: “She was told to move to a different seat.”
DeSantis’s administration has taken this law and used it to reject more than 40 math textbooks for allegedly incorporating “prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies,” including critical race theory. This year, his administration banned an Advanced Placement African American studies course from running in schools, accusing the college board of “indoctrination not education.”