critical race theory 
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SOURCE: Washington Monthly
7/12/2023
Our Amicus Brief Against Florida's Stop WOKE Act
by Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder
"The Supreme Court’s rejection of affirmative action in college admissions will provoke widespread debate. But not in the classrooms of Florida’s public colleges and universities, because the Stop WOKE Act prohibits it."
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SOURCE: New York Review of Books
6/17/2023
The War on Black Studies Isn't "Culture War" – It's Part of a Long Political Battle
by Robin D.G. Kelley
"Who’s afraid of Black Studies? White supremacists, fascists, the ruling class, and even some liberals. As well they should be. Black Studies was born out of a struggle for freedom and a genuine quest to understand the world in order to change it."
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SOURCE: PEN America
6/13/2023
PEN Condemns Censorship in Removal of Coates's Memoir from AP Course
Several students reported their teacher using terms that mirrored the language of the state law—claiming the lesson "made them ashamed to be Caucasian"—resulting in the school board's decision to remove the book from an Advanced Placement Language course.
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SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
6/12/2023
New College Visiting Prof. Out of Job—Rufo's Public Remarks Suggest Politics the Motive
Erik Wallenberg wrote a critical commentary about the ideological reordering of their campus. His contract renewal was then declined. Trustee Christopher Rufo's tweets seem to affirm that the nonrenewal was ideologically motivated. Wallenberg speaks out.
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SOURCE: New York Magazine
5/30/2023
The Other Mothers Fighting the School Wars
Although Moms For Liberty was the early entrant into the current battles over curriculum, race and LGBTQ policies in schools, other groups have mobilized their identities as mothers to fight the right's efforts. Historians Adam Laats and Stacie Taranto note that school politics have often hinged on who could leverage motherhood as a political force.
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SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
5/23/2023
Scholars Stage Teach-in on Racism in DeSantis's Back Yard
Yohuru Williams and the Institute for Common Power, directed by Terry Anne Scott, convened a 24-hour teach-in in St. Petersburg to draw attention to the connections between inclusive history lessons and functioning democracy.
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SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
5/24/2023
AAUP: Fight Tooth and Nail Against Florida's Higher Ed Agenda Because Your State is Next
Historian Henry Reichman, one of the preliminary report's authors, said the committee studying Florida's higher ed system under Ron DeSantis found abuses of academic freedom and institutional regulations to be more widespread than they expected, and warned more political interference is coming.
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SOURCE: Truthout
5/18/2023
George Yancy and Joe Feagin on How to Fight Back Against Book Bans
The sociologist, whose books on racism have been banned, argues "U.S. book banning has been widespread and routinely targeted books with diverse ideas and perspectives for centuries now, especially those challenging white conservative sociopolitical ideas, norms and values."
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SOURCE: CNN
5/15/2023
I'm Headed to Florida to Teach-In Against DeSantis's Education Policies
by Kellie Carter Jackson
This May 17 saw a 24-hour teach-in by historians in St. Petersburg, Florida, to protest the restrictions on curriculum, books and ideas pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies. As a historian of abolition, the author stresses that denying people the pen may influence them to pick up the sword.
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SOURCE: Daily Beast
5/17/2023
Florida Just Banned Everything I Teach
by William Horne
Black historians during the Jim Crow era observed that the history taught in schools justified slavery, segregation, and lynching. A professor thinks that's where Ron DeSantis's vision of history is headed. Some politicians may think curriculum is a winning issue, but students and society will lose.
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SOURCE: NAACP LDF
5/18/2023
NAACP Legal Defense Fund Opposes Texas Legislation
"Truthful and inclusive discussions about United States and Texas history and their connection to present-day inequalities are essential to accurate and quality academic instruction."
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SOURCE: The New Yorker
5/18/2023
The Fight for the Soul of a Missouri School Board
by Sue Halpern
Even in a conservative community in southwestern Missouri, a grassroots group of parents and students has rallied to oppose right-wing efforts to restrict books available in the local public schools.
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SOURCE: Texas Observer
5/15/2023
In Texas, Those Who Don't Know History... Want to Control the State's Narrative of the Past
The growing effort to diminish the power of academic historians on the Texas State Historical Association is being driven by many of the people involved in the "1836 Project" effort to distribute literature praising the white settlers of Texas as mythic heroes.
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SOURCE: NC Newsline
5/15/2023
North Carolina Introduces its own History Bill; Historians Call Foul
State legislators say they are ensuring that students at North Carolina colleges are taught core concepts in American history. Historians Jay Smith and William Sturkey argue that, since the legislature would determine the content of a mandatory course it amounts to indoctrination and token coverage of Black history.
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SOURCE: CNN
3/9/2023
Americans Can and Must Fight Back Against Anti-Woke Authoritarians
by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Signs are emerging that Americans won't be persuaded by moral panics to surrender the freedom to learn. What can this counteroffensive build on?
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SOURCE: Washington Post
5/10/2023
Florida Rejects Social Studies Topics on Communism, "Taking a Knee"
by Valerie Strauss
After rejecting more than 80 percent of proposed materials for K-12 social studies courses, Florida accepted many revised materials but still rejected 35 percent. Topics refused? Social justice in the Hebrew Bible, national anthem protests, and prosperous countries with socialist economies.
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SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
5/11/2023
Florida Senate Rejects DeSantis Pick for New College Trustee Board
Eddie Speir, whose prior experience in education was running a private K-12 religious school, was rejected by the Florida Senate after having participated in board meetings at the New College of Florida as an interim Trustee. What distinguishes Speir from Governor Ron DeSantis's other appointees?
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SOURCE: PEN America
5/1/2023
Academic Freedom Battleground Shifts from Classroom to Institutions
by Jeffrey Sachs, Jeremy C. Young and Jonathan Friedman
Conservative leaders like Adam Kissel are advising lawmakers to defeat First Amendment protections for what professors say in the classroom by shifting legislation's focus to defining concepts as outside the bounds of academic disciplines and academic fields as outside the bounds of the university's mission.
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SOURCE: New York Times
4/29/2023
Inside the New New College
by Michelle Goldberg
Hopes that the incoming regime at the New College of Florida would tread lightly on the school's unique culture were dashed by administrative moves to recruit student athletes, establish fraternities and sororities, and deny tenure to the faculty members who sought it this year.
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SOURCE: New York Review of Books
5/2/2023
1776 vs. 1619: Hillsdale College Enters the History Wars
by Adam Hochshild
If conservatives are against "woke" history education, what, exactly, are they for? There's much to be learned from the curriculum created by the Michigan christian college, which presents a jarring contrast with the themes presented in the new Hulu documentary series based on Nikole Hannah-Jones's 1619 Project.
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