“The President Barack Obama Curriculum Act”
Sacramento - President Barack Obama will take his rightful place in California textbooks under legislation signed today by Governor Jerry Brown. AB 1912 authored by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), will be the first step toward acknowledging President Obama’s legacy for generations to come. The measure enjoyed overwhelming, bi-partisan support as it made its way through the legislative process this year.
“I am very grateful to Governor Brown for signing this important legislation and to the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who agreed that this presidency should not be relegated to a footnote in textbooks,” said Assemblymember Holden. “We want to make sure that future generations understand that the election of our nation’s first African American President was a historic step in the effort towards equality and that previous elections involved intimidation and violence that prevented millions of African-Americans from voting.”
AB 1912 asks the State Board of Education and the Instructional Quality Commission to include the significance of President Barack Obama’s election in the state’s history and social science standards for grades seven to twelve. The state’s history-social science standards haven’t been revised in nine years due largely to the state’s fiscal crisis. The next review and adoption of instructional materials will not take place until the 2015-2016 school year.
“Just 145 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and only a generation removed from the civil rights struggles, President Obama’s election represented the moment when all things seemed possible,” concluded Holden.