Growing up near the Florida-Georgia line, Tameka Hobbs didn't start learning about Black history — her history — until she went to college.
She learned about the aftermath of reconstruction, the rise of lynching and many other topics which hit close to home. She would then talk to her grandparents about living in the Jim Crow-segregated South under the shadow of violence, economic deprivation and unequal pay.
It was then that she was able to create a fuller, more complex view of the African and the African-American experience.
"It's only when you begin to fill those gaps [in history] that I could feel included, that I understood the things, so many things around me as a young person and growing up where I grew up," she said, speaking on WLRN's Sundial.
So, she wanted to make sure other Florida students didn't have to wait as long as she did to learn about Black history.
READ MORE: 'We all need to know the story:' Broward libraries plan to offer Black history courses
Hobbs would make it her life's work to teach the language and history of race for people of color. Earlier this year she partnered with the Black History Project in Orlando to start a Black History Saturday School in Broward County. Once a month, middle and high school students study everything from Black life in pre-colonial Africa to the Civil Rights movement to modern-day issues.
“One of the things we often have to connect, demystify, not just for students but for many people, is that Africa is a continent with many different countries and not just one country that we kind of talk about with a very broad brush,” she said.
The program, which is free for all participants, is meant to supplement the state’s new controversial standards for teaching Black history, which includes the myth that Black people benefited in some way from forced labor.
The new social studies curriculum standards were approved by the Florida Board of Education in July and include over 200 pages of suggested instruction. The change received considerable pushback from many, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris — who delivered an impassioned speech on the guidelines just days after their approval.
Hobbs, who has a Ph.D. in history with a concentration in Black history, also manages the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center located in Fort Lauderdale’s historically Black neighborhood, Sistrunk. She said she has noticed the chilling effect of the 'STOP Woke Act,' stifling conversations about race and Black history.
“These are things and contextualizations that tend to, in my opinion, have the desired goal of softening what we believe the impact of the transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery was on Black people,” Hobbs said. “That is unacceptable, that we sugarcoat it, that we whitewash it. Our children deserve better than that.”
Now, Tameka recruits teachers to help lead the Saturday classes at three other Broward County libraries.
“For every family that wants to have this curriculum, I’m determined to find a location and the resources to make it happen,” she said.
The Black History Saturday School already serves Broward students out of four Broward library locations with hopes of expanding further to the Hollywood and Pompano branches soon.
On the Oct. 23 episode of Sundial, we talked to Tameka about her journey into teaching Black history.
On Sundial’s previous episode, we spoke with Miami Marlins’ newest radio voice, Kyle Sielaff, who turned us into baseball fans as he chatted about narrating the excitement of the Marlins making the playoffs this season and his history as fan and announcer.
Listen to Sundial Monday through Thursday on WLRN, 91.3 FM, live at 1 p.m., rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Missed a show? Find every episode of Sundial on your favorite podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.
