Bill > SB1045

This bill requires the Missouri State Board of Education to implement comprehensive and detailed Native American and African American history curriculum for students in seventh through twelfth grades, covering extensive historical topics that go far beyond traditional educational approaches. For Native American history, the curriculum would include pre-Columbian indigenous societies, detailed accounts of Columbus's interactions with Native populations, the systematic destruction of Native populations through disease and military actions, forced removals like the Trail of Tears, land dispossession through acts like the Homestead Act, and the massive population decline of indigenous peoples. For African American history, the curriculum would cover African civilizations, the complexities of slavery, specific abuses within the slavery system, the experiences of Black Americans in various wars, significant legal and civil rights battles, systematic discrimination, important Supreme Court cases, and modern movements like Black Lives Matter. The bill mandates an unflinching, comprehensive examination of historical injustices, requiring schools to teach not just facts but the profound human experiences of Native Americans and African Americans, including traumatic historical events often overlooked in standard history education. The proposed curriculum aims to provide a more complete, nuanced understanding of American history by centering the experiences of historically marginalized populations.

Education

https://www.senate.mo.gov/26info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=676