As someone who recently completed a book on Florida History in the colonial era and is 70% done with a sequel I have some strong views on the subject of slavery and Florida.

We’ve seen plenty of good national coverage of this issue regarding the “slaves acquired job skills” part which is rather embarrassing for our state. But I have further concerns based on how it appears this subject is being approached in Florida schools.

• As my recently published book discusses, Florida was the site of the first underground railroad, a place where enslaved African-Americans escaped to freedom and were able to contribute to society in ways they could not in the rest of what is now the southeastern United States. I see little to no discussion of this in Florida or American history or the state curriculum. Florida was different and this is something to be proud of.
• During the American Revolution far more blacks fought for the British than the Patriot side. This is the reality – and especially important here in Florida where African-Americans escaped behind British lines (East Florida stayed loyal to the crown) and were readily armed. This is part of the story of advancement from slavery and isn’t told in Florida schools or in the general curriculum.
• Florida’s economy remained agrarian and backwards compared to the industrializing north because while the areas north of Mason-Dixon line engaged in developing a manufacturing-based economy dependent on free labor, the south remained dependent on cotton exports and plantation-based slave labor. Florida and the south in general was probably 50 years or more behind the north in terms of economic development at the time of the Civil War. This is never discussed and is a lingering reason why the south remained far less economically advanced than the north and Midwest until the last 30 or 40 years. While this reality might be “humiliating” for students who are from multi-generation large landowning families in Florida, it needs to be understood that the slave-based economy of this state and the south in general is the direct cause of why the region remained the most backward part of the western world until recently.