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Resident urges Springfield schools to include broader African studies in curriculum
Summary
During the public speak-out period, resident Steven Howard urged the council and school committee to add African studies (beyond African-American history) to Springfield school curricula and asked the council to form or sponsor a committee to work on the effort.
Steven Howard used the council’s public-speak-out period Monday to urge Springfield leaders to expand K–12 curriculum to include African studies that cover long, pan-African histories and contributions beyond slavery-focused modules.
Howard, who identified himself only as a resident speaking during the public-speak-out, said the proposal would cover the broad history of peoples from the African continent and their contributions to technology, medicine and agriculture. “There’s so much history that we have in Africa…a lot of inventions that were made by African Americans were invented either during slavery or following slavery,” Howard said, urging the council to ensure students learn “thousands of years” of African history, not solely lessons about enslavement.
Howard also cited examples he said should be taught — from the physician Imhotep and other ancient contributions to agricultural and mechanical knowledge — and called for a broader approach that would include the histories of African Muslims and Jewish communities that trace origins to the continent. He recommended the city council form a committee to coordinate with the school committee and said he would be willing to serve.
The public-speak-out segment was limited to a single registered speaker for the evening; Howard’s remarks were given during the pre-meeting public comment period and were not acted on by the council during the Oct. 20 session.
