In February 2023, the state of Florida threw out a promising Advanced Placement curriculum in African American History pilot, claiming it lacked “educational value.” The “Stop WOKE” legislation in Florida, Texas, and several other states represents an effort to purge U.S. history of any references to violence against Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian people by white supremacists.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “anti-woke” campaign would revise how history is taught, including omitting or minimizing the contributions of historic Civil Rights leaders like Rosa Parks. DeSantis is under fire for suggesting enslavement benefited the people held captive in the U.S. by “teaching them new skills.”

For activists, woke is slang for awareness. Calls to “stay woke” echoed throughout the history of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, reverberating through the recent Black Lives Matter movement. This is not an issue of some white students allegedly claiming discomfort over learning about the brutally racist history of their ancestors – it’s about trying to totally erase that history with textbooks that glorify white supremacy.