Vice President Harris is railing against Florida’s new standards for social studies because, within the 215-page-long standards, there is a line that says: “Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation). Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” (Here’s a more user-friendly breakdown of what Florida actually teaches about black Americans.)

Harris garnered positive headlines on the left because of her fiery assertion that this one sentence means that slavery is being taught as a positive good in Florida:

Thus, Harris objects to noting that slavery had any benefits for any slaves. However, the historical reality is that the skills taught to slaves affected about 25% of slaves and gave them opportunities in management and a chance to earn extra income, along with the ability to be outsourced and live on their own. After 1865, skilled slaves found jobs where immigrants and unskilled whites did not. These were big personal benefits.

It’s not earth-shattering that Harris is taking a few lines out of context. This is how politicians and legacy media get attention. What is disturbing about Harris’s shrill indictment of the new Florida curriculum is that she is taking away Florida’s deserved applause for putting together an objective and quite thorough history of key events in American history. Moreover, it’s one that does not scrimp on African American history.

Ironically, Harris calls the new Florida standards “revised” history, but that may be because there has been so much revisionist black history taught in America that objective history seems revised.

The new standards deserve special kudos for placing history into context so Americans can compare and contrast events in America with those in other nations at the same time. This has enormous educational value. For example, it allows students to learn that, contrary to popular belief, America did not invent slavery. They will also see that America is a country to be proud of—warts and all.

Image: Kamala Harris. YouTube screen grab.