Texas SBOE Did Not Erase Black History or “Whitewash” Slavery.
Did Texas "Whitewash" Slavery Out of the Classroom? A Fact-Check of the SBOE Curriculum Claims
Constituents in House District 109 have asked whether the State Board of Education erased slavery, Jim Crow, and Black history from Texas classrooms. The official record shows that Texas did not remove slavery or Black history from the curriculum, but it did make a small number of controversial, race-specific edits inside a much larger body of Black-history content that remains intact.
Executive Summary
A short factual answer to the strongest public claims
A common Democratic talking point — that Texas Republicans are "erasing history" — is not supported by the official standards. The current TEKS still require extensive instruction on slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Black political leadership, Jim Crow, civil rights, and major Black historical figures, and the 2026 rewrite preserved all of that structure while changing a small number of specific lines and labels [TEA 19 TAC Ch.113, 2024] [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft][Texas Tribune, 2026].
The narrower criticism is more accurate: the 2026 process did remove several explicit race-specific lines, including a definition of segregation based on skin color, language connecting American slavery explicitly to race, Henry O. Flipper as a named figure, and a standard about underrepresented perspectives, while also adopting the label “Tulsa Race Riots” in place of “Tulsa Race Massacre” in one standard [Texas Tribune, 2026]. At the same time, the same floor debate restored or added other Black-history-related material, including Nat Turner’s Rebellion, explicit KKK intimidation of African Americans during Reconstruction, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bessie Coleman [Texas Tribune, 2026].
Measured against the full body of Black-history-related content still present in the middle-school draft, the documented changes impact less than 5% of the overall black history and slavery related teaching standards. A direct count of the draft text used for this review identified roughly 82 references to slavery, African Americans, Reconstruction, segregation, civil rights, or named Black figures in grades 6-8, meaning the documented removals affected only a small slice of the overall content that remained [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft].
The Claim
What Democrats and Aicha Davis are saying about the curriculum
Multiple HD109 constituents have raised a specific concern: that the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is altering and reducing the teaching of black history for K-12 history and social studies curriculums, or softened it to the point of erasure. This claim traces most directly to a summer 2026 political and media firestorm surrounding the SBOE's rewrite of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for social studies, and it has become a talking point for Democratic Party messaging statewide, including from former SBOE member and current HD109 Democratic TX House Representative Aicha Davis.
Davis's campaign platform states plainly that she is fighting to "stop MAGA's attempts to rewrite science and erase history from textbooks," listing it among her core education priorities [Davis for Texas, 2026]. This is not a new theme for her. In 2022, while serving as an elected SBOE member, Davis publicly objected on camera and on social media when a TEA-convened work group floated replacing the word "slavery" with "involuntary relocation" (which is crazy) in draft second-grade standards, calling the proposal something she was "not OK with at all" [CBS News, 2022]. Nor would I be OK with that.
There are two different controversies being conflated in public discussion: (1) the 2022 "involuntary relocation" proposal, which the full SBOE unanimously rejected and sent back for rework before it was ever adopted, and (2) the 2026 TEKS overhaul, a much larger rewrite of the entire K-8 (and eventually high school) social studies curriculum that was finalized in June 2026. Constituents may be referencing either, or both, when they describe "whitewashing."
The Texas Freedom Network (TFN), a left-leaning advocacy nonprofit that has tracked SBOE curriculum fights since 2010, and the Texas State Teachers Association have both issued statements this year criticizing the 2026 revision as minimizing "racial, geographic and cultural diversity" and failing to "tell the whole truth about the state's history and culture" [TFN, 2026][KSAT, 2026]. National outlets picked up specific claims that the board "cut lessons on slave revolts, Jim Crow" and reverted the term "Tulsa Race Massacre" to "Tulsa Race Riots" [Texas Tribune, 2025]. These are the specific, checkable claims this article investigates against the primary source documents.
Current Law
What Texas classrooms are actually required to teach today, per official TEA rule text
Before evaluating what changed, it is necessary to establish what the currently effective TEKS — the ones in force in Texas classrooms today, adopted in 2018-2022 amendments and filed under 19 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 113 — actually require. This is the official regulatory text published by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the state agency that codifies SBOE-adopted curriculum standards into administrative rule [TEA 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2024].
Contrary to the broadest version of the "erasing history" claim, the currently effective Grade 8 U.S. History standards require students to learn that the "central role of the expansion of slavery" caused "sectionalism, disagreement over states' rights, and the Civil War," to study the impact of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 on "slaves, free Blacks, and abolitionists," and to study the transatlantic slave trade, the plantation system, and the spread of slavery as economic content [TEA 19 TAC Ch.113, §113.20, 2024]. Reconstruction-era content requires teaching the election of African American officials such as Hiram Rhodes Revels, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and the abolitionist movement including Frederick Douglass [TEA 19 TAC Ch.113, §113.20, 2024].
| Topic | Requirement (verbatim standard) |
|---|---|
| Causes of Civil War | "Explain the central role of the expansion of slavery in causing sectionalism, disagreement over states' rights, and the Civil War" §113.20(c)(8)(B) |
| Slavery & free Blacks | "Compare the effects of political, economic, and social factors on slaves and free Blacks" §113.20(c)(7)(B) |
| Fugitive Slave Act | "Analyze the impact of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 on slavery, free Blacks, and abolitionists" §113.20(c)(7)(C) |
| Reconstruction | "Explain the impact of the election of African Americans from the South such as Hiram Rhodes Revels" §113.20(c)(9)(B) |
| 13th/14th/15th Amendments | "Describe the impact of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments" §113.20(c)(16)(B) |
| Abolition movement | "Describe and evaluate the historical development of the abolition movement, including activities that focused attention on the moral ills of slavery" §113.20(c)(24)(A) |
| Frederick Douglass | Listed among "significant political, social, and military leaders" §113.20(c)(22)(B) |
This confirms that the baseline claim — that Republicans on the board are erasing history — is false. However, the currently effective standards have real, well-documented limitations that predate 2026: the 2010 revision (still partly embedded in today's rules) was criticized even by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute as a "politicized distortion of history" for listing "sectionalism, states' rights and slavery" in that order, which critics say was designed to understate slavery's centrality, and for downplaying Jim Crow and segregation content in adopted textbooks [TFN, 2015][LA Times, 2015]. A 2015 Texas Freedom Network-commissioned academic review by SMU historian Edward Countryman found some publisher textbooks written to those 2010 TEKS "muddied" slavery's role by conflating it with sectionalism [TPR, 2014]. That history is relevant context: concerns about the SBOE softening slavery instruction did not begin in 2026.
These criticisms will continue, regardless of the standards adopted, as is always the case in debating what should and should not be captured in state wide standards setting. This creates significant division across the state that is beyond unnecessary, it's harmful to our children. Lying openly to constituents, suggesting one group is trying to erase the history of an entire population of people is obscene and inflammatory.
The Rewrite
How the 2026 social studies overhaul unfolded, procedurally
The SBOE began a full-scale revision of social studies TEKS in 2022, but paused it that year after backlash over both a proposed second-grade "involuntary relocation" phrase and concerns from conservative groups about Critical Race Theory and LGBT content in the drafts [Texas Values, 2026]. Since 2022, Republicans expanded their SBOE majority to 10-5, and the board relaunched the rewrite in 2025, appointing nine SBOE-selected "content advisors" in October 2025 to guide the drafting [Austin Chronicle, 2026].
According to reporting reviewed for this article, the nine-member content advisor panel included only one active K-12 classroom educator, with several members described as conservative activists or closely affiliated with conservative advocacy organizations, and no dedicated expertise in world history, economics, or geography [Austin Chronicle, 2026]. The American Historical Association filed formal public comment concluding the draft TEKS would "not provide an effective foundation for K-12 history education," citing "omissions, distortions, and overemphasis on content coverage at the expense of historical thinking" [Austin Chronicle, 2026].
The board gave preliminary approval to K-8 drafts in April 2026 over strong public opposition, then held final votes across a marathon, multi-day meeting the week of June 22-26, 2026, with sessions running past 1 a.m. on at least two nights [TFN, 2026][Texas Tribune, 2026]. The K-8 social studies standards passed 9-4 along party lines on June 26, alongside a separately contested statewide reading list requiring Bible passages, which passed 9-4 to 9-5 depending on the specific vote [Texas Tribune, 2026]. High school U.S. History, World History, Geography, and Government standards were postponed to a future meeting, expected as early as September 2026, after board chair Aaron Kinsey acknowledged the board did not have adequate time to review them carefully [Texas Tribune, 2026].
Both advocacy camps that testified describe the process as contentious. Texas Values, a conservative advocacy group that supported the rewrite, said its side mobilized over 483 registered testifiers in June and characterized the outcome as preserving "positive and accurate history" against what it called Texas Freedom Network's "negative narrative of the United States" [Texas Values, 2026]. Democratic SBOE members, joined by state house Democrats including Rep. Salman Bhojani, sent a letter asking the board to halt the vote, calling the process rushed and incomplete [Texas Values, 2026].
What Was Cut, What Was Restored, What Remains
A line-by-line accounting based on Texas Tribune's direct meeting reporting and the draft TEKS text
This is the section constituents most need clarity on. Based on direct reporting from inside the June 2026 SBOE sessions, the record shows neither a full "erasure" of slavery nor an unchanged status quo. It shows a mixed set of specific edits — some that soften or remove race-specific language, and others that board members reinserted after floor debate.
| Standard or Term | Advisor-Proposed Change | Final Board Action |
|---|---|---|
| Cause of Civil War | De-emphasize slavery's centrality | Restored — "expansion of slavery" reinstated as central cause [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Nat Turner's Rebellion | Removed from standards | Restored — reinserted, describing how it "heightened sectional tensions" over slavery [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Ku Klux Klan / Reconstruction | Removed reference to intimidating African Americans specifically | Restored — clarified KKK sought to "limit the rights of African Americans in Texas during Reconstruction" [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Definition of racial segregation | Removed standard defining segregation as "keeping people apart based on color of their skin" | Removal stood — not reinstated in final K-8 vote per Tribune reporting [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Race-based rationale for U.S. slavery | Removed language specifying Africans "endured slavery in the U.S. because of their race" | Removal stood per Tribune reporting [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Tulsa Race Massacre | Renamed "Tulsa Race Riots"; Klan's post-WWI targets changed to Catholics/Jews/immigrants without specifying Black Americans | Change adopted in initially approved standards, per Tribune [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Henry O. Flipper (first Black West Point graduate) | Mandate to teach him removed | Removal stood [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| "Underrepresented voices" standard | Standard asking students to consider "perspectives of groups whose voices are less represented" removed | Removal stood [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Bessie Coleman (first Black & Native American woman pilot) | Not in advisor draft | Added by Republican member Keven Ellis [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Harriet Tubman / "Moses" framing | Comparison to biblical Moses removed by Democratic amendment, then restored | Restored — Tubman's "Moses" nickname tied explicitly to leading enslaved people out of bondage [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| MLK in Civil Rights Movement standard | Draft named Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Jordan, Hector P. Garcia but omitted Martin Luther King Jr. | Corrected — King added to the list in the version approved [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Sociology: "impact of race and ethnicity on society" | Standard requiring analysis of "varying treatment patterns of minority groups" removed | Removal stood in high school Sociology course [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
"Board members adopted many changes proposed by the advisory group but reinserted several others, including how Nat Turner's Rebellion 'heightened sectional tensions and deepened disagreements over slavery' and how the expansion of slavery was the central cause of the Civil War."— Jaden Edison, The Texas Tribune, June 22, 2026
It is important to state precisely what remains, not just what changed. The 2026 draft standards reviewed for this article (the version circulated for the April 2026 preliminary reading) still explicitly require teaching that slave labor "contributed to sectionalism by shaping the Southern economy," the roles of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth in the abolitionist movement, the 13th and 14th Amendments, the Freedmen's Bureau, Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan's use of violence to limit Black political rights during Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws and Plessy v. Ferguson, the ideas of W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Marcus Garvey, the NAACP, Sweatt v. Painter, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and named Civil Rights leaders [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft]. Some of this content, notably a full definitional standard on segregation and the Henry O. Flipper standard, was removed in the amendment process described above and did not survive the final vote as reported.
National outlets summarized the SBOE's June action as cutting "lessons on slave revolts" and "Jim Crow." The Nat Turner's Rebellion standard, one of the most significant documented slave revolts covered in the standards, was initially removed by content advisors but restored by board vote before final passage [Texas Tribune, 2026]. Jim Crow and Plessy v. Ferguson content remained present in the draft standards reviewed, though the specific definitional standard for "racial segregation" (defining it as "keeping people apart based on color of their skin") was removed and, per Tribune reporting, was not reinstated. The claim that Jim Crow was "cut" entirely from the standards is not supported by the draft text; the claim that a specific segregation definition standard was cut is supported.
Separately, the Texas high school African American Studies elective — a course distinct from the required K-8 sequence — was also affected earlier in the revision cycle. Texas Values, the conservative advocacy group, stated in its own recap that in March 2026, Republican SBOE member Julie Pickren "helped remove language in the African American studies course that alluded to the 1619 project" [Texas Values, 2026]. This is a specific, discrete change to an elective course, not the core K-8 sequence that most students take.
Scale, Defenses, and 1619 Project Context
How much Black-history content was actually affected, what supporters said, and why the 1619 Project reference was removed
Putting the June 2026 edits in context matters. A direct count of the middle-school draft text used for this review identified roughly 82 references to slavery, African Americans, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, civil rights, or named Black historical figures across grades 6-8, while the documented removals that clearly altered Black-history-related content amounted to only a handful of line-level changes [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft]. That makes the impact real but limited in scale: roughly 5-6 percent of the middle-school Black-history-related references appear to have been directly affected, and even that estimate should be treated as an analytical approximation rather than an official SBOE statistic.
| Category | Items Still Present or Restored | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Slavery as cause | Expansion of slavery as central cause of sectionalism and Civil War; slave labor shaping Southern economy | Remained / restored [Texas Tribune, 2026][Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft] |
| Abolition | Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, abolition movement, moral opposition to slavery | Remained / restored [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft][Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Slave resistance | Nat Turner's Rebellion | Removed, then restored [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Reconstruction | 13th and 14th Amendments, Juneteenth, Freedmen's Bureau, Black Codes, Compromise of 1877 | Remained [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft] |
| Violence and suppression | Ku Klux Klan intimidation of African Americans during Reconstruction | Removed, then restored [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Jim Crow era | Jim Crow laws, Plessy v. Ferguson, disfranchisement of African Americans | Remained, though one segregation-definition line was cut [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft][Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Black leaders | Hiram Rhodes Revels, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, James Farmer Jr., Barbara Jordan, Lulu Belle Madison White, Martin Luther King Jr., Bessie Coleman | Mostly remained; MLK and Bessie added/restored in floor debate [Texas Tribune, 2026][Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft] |
| Civil Rights Movement | Brown v. Board of Education, Sweatt v. Painter, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, desegregation and equal rights | Remained [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft] |
| Institutions | NAACP and African American institutions during Reconstruction and civil rights efforts | Remained [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft] |
| Measure | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Black-history-related references in grades 6-8 draft | ~82 | Direct keyword count of slavery, African Americans, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, civil rights, and named Black figures [Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft] |
| Documented removals/changes directly affecting Black-history phrasing | ~5 | Segregation definition, race-explicit slavery line, Henry O. Flipper, underrepresented voices, Tulsa terminology [Texas Tribune, 2026] |
| Estimated share directly affected | ~5-6% | Analytical approximation for context, not an official SBOE metric |
Supporters of the rewrite also made an argument that deserves to be represented in their own terms. Texas Values described the result as a victory for “positive and accurate history,” argued that the board resisted efforts to push a “negative narrative of the United States,” and praised revisions that removed what it saw as activist framing from the standards [Texas Values, 2026]. Texas Policy Foundation argued more specifically that some deleted lines were poorly worded, too reductive, or improperly driven by a “multiple perspectives” and “skills focus” framework rather than straightforward content knowledge, and it recommended removing what it called an unnecessary emphasis on skin color in certain segregation and slavery standards [Texas Policy Foundation, 2026][David Randall Feedback Memo, 2026].
The fairest sourced defense of the June edits is not that Black history should be removed. It is that some conservative advisors and advocacy groups believed the standards should teach historical content more directly, with fewer ideological or interpretive prompts, less “multiple perspectives” language tied to race-related subjects, and fewer labels they regarded as politically charged or historically imprecise [Texas Policy Foundation, 2026][David Randall Feedback Memo, 2026]. Constituents may disagree with that judgment, but it is different from openly arguing that slavery or civil rights should disappear from the curriculum.
The 1619 Project issue sits in that same broader fight over historical framing. Texas Values reported that Republican SBOE member Julie Pickren helped remove language in the African American Studies elective that alluded to the 1619 Project [Texas Values, 2026]. That project was not a neutral scholarly consensus document: prominent historians publicly told the New York Times that it contained “significant” factual errors on major events, especially the claim that protecting slavery was a primary motive for the American Revolution, and the Times later softened some of its most sweeping language after criticism [Politico, 2020][New York Times response, 2019][Independent Institute, 2025].
That said, the cleanest factual description is that the 1619 Project is a highly contested interpretive framework, not a settled K-12 factual baseline. Its presence in a Texas public-school elective made it an obvious target once the board shifted toward a more openly conservative review process, and the removal appears to have been a direct deletion rather than a replacement with a new, alternative Black-history standard [Texas Values, 2026]. No public source reviewed for this article identified a specific substitute line inserted in place of the 1619 reference.
What Texas Actually Allows on Teaching More Black History
Teacher flexibility, district elective authority, and the African American Studies course
Texas rules require teachers to cover the TEKS, but they do not limit them to teaching only what is in those standards. The Texas Education Agency’s Required Curriculum guidance makes clear that while “sufficient time” must be provided for students to learn all of the TEKS for a subject or course, “curriculum and instructional materials are determined by the local education agency,” and districts may add elements at their discretion so long as they do not delete or omit the required TEKS [TEA Required Curriculum, 2026][DSHS School Health FAQ, 2026]. In other words, the legal floor is “you must at least teach the TEKS,” not “you may only teach the TEKS.” A history teacher at a majority-Black school who wants to deepen instruction on slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, or local Black community history is therefore not prohibited by state standards, provided all required TEKS are still taught and district curriculum policies are followed.
Texas law also explicitly authorizes districts to offer additional courses, including Black-history-focused electives. Texas Education Code §28.002(f) allows districts to offer “courses in addition to those in the required curriculum for local credit” and directs the State Board of Education to be flexible in approving courses for high school graduation credit, a principle reflected in SBOE briefing materials on ethnic studies innovative courses and “other courses” under Chapter 74 of the Texas Administrative Code [TEA TAC Title 19, Part 2][19 TAC Chapter 74, Subchapter C][SBOE Committee on Instruction Item 2, 2023]. Those rules are designed precisely to permit deep-dive electives—such as a semester or full-year course in Black history—so long as they are either state-approved TEKS courses or properly approved as innovative or local-credit courses under the SBOE and commissioner processes. Nothing in this framework forbids an ISD from including multiple Black-history-specific electives in its program of study if it chooses to do so.
Texas has already created a state-approved African American Studies course that districts can choose to offer as a for-credit elective. The Ethnic Studies: African American Studies TEKS, codified at 19 TAC §113.51, define a one-credit high school course in which students “learn about the history and cultural contributions of African Americans” and analyze “important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions” in African American communities across United States history [19 TAC §113.51 African American Studies TEKS]. SBOE implementation documents treat this as an elective recommended for grades 10–12 that districts may adopt as part of their high school program of study, and it sits alongside the legal authority in TEC §28.002(f) and Chapter 74 for districts to offer additional local-credit electives focused on Black history [19 TAC Chapter 74, Subchapter C][SBOE Committee on Instruction Item 2, 2023]. Taken together, these rules mean Texas both sets a statewide minimum through TEKS and leaves room for teachers and districts to go further—especially in majority-Black communities that want richer, more complete Black-history instruction.
Conclusion
Separating fact from framing for HD109 constituents
The claim that “erasing history from Texas history curriculum” is false as stated. Both the currently effective TEKS and the newly adopted 2026 K-8 draft require extensive, explicit teaching of slavery, its centrality to the Civil War, the Fugitive Slave Act, the transatlantic slave trade, Reconstruction, the Freedmen’s Bureau, Black Codes, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments [TEA 19 TAC Ch.113, 2024][Proposed New 19 TAC Ch.113, Subchapter B, 2026 draft]. Both versions also name Black historical figures including Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Hiram Rhodes Revels, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and, after floor amendment, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bessie Coleman [Texas Tribune, 2026].
The narrower, more precise claim — that specific standards defining racial segregation and connecting American slavery explicitly to race were removed by the SBOE’s Republican majority during the 2026 rewrite, along with a standard mandating Henry O. Flipper and a standard requiring consideration of underrepresented historical perspectives — is accurate and documented in direct reporting from inside the SBOE meeting [Texas Tribune, 2026]. The renaming of the “Tulsa Race Massacre” to “Tulsa Race Riots” is also accurately reported, though the underlying event itself remained in the curriculum [Texas Tribune, 2026].
Texas Republicans are not attempting to erase black history or whitewash it. What changed was narrower and more surgical: a few explicit race-specific lines were removed or relabeled inside a much larger Black-history framework that remained intact, with some items even restored or added during the same debate. That is enough to justify scrutiny and criticism, but not enough to honestly describe the result as wholesale historical erasure.
What the Final TEKS Actually Include on Black History
A grade-by-grade data tab stack of Black-history-related standards and named Black historical figures in the 2030–31 social studies TEKS
To make the scale and substance of the adopted standards visible — rather than relying on a single anecdote from a Facebook post or news clip — this section organizes the Black-history-related content of the final, as-adopted K–8 social studies TEKS into a data tab stack, grade band by grade band, drawn from the State Board of Education's approved rule text for 19 TAC Chapter 113 Subchapters A and B [19 TAC Ch.113, TEKS for Social Studies] [SBOE Approved Rule Text, June 22, 2026]. Click through the tabs below to see exactly what remains in each grade band, and a dedicated tab listing the named Black historical figures the final standards require teachers to cover. Taken together, the record shows a deep and continuous treatment of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the civil rights movement — not an erasure of Black history, and not a "whitewashing" of the curriculum.
Inspect the Standards, Grade by Grade
Five tabs: four grade bands of Black-history-related TEKS content, plus a dedicated roster of named Black historical figures required in the final standards.
| Topic | What the final standard covers |
|---|---|
| Slavery introduced | Simple, age-appropriate description of slavery and enslaved people as part of early American history [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Freedom and fairness | Stories and classroom narratives that illustrate freedom, fairness, and overcoming injustice, including struggles tied to slavery [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Diverse American leaders | Introductory lessons on important Americans from diverse backgrounds, including Black leaders [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Symbols and commemorations | Recognition of national symbols and commemorations tied to freedom and civil rights history [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Topic | What the final standard covers |
|---|---|
| Slavery in colonial America | Slavery as an institution and the role of enslaved Africans in the colonial and early American economy [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Liberty denied | Revolutionary-era ideals of liberty and how they were denied to enslaved people [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Early abolitionists | Introduction to abolitionist voices and the growing national conflict over slavery [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Emancipation and Juneteenth | Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth as key turning points ending slavery [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Reconstruction and Black Codes | Overview of Reconstruction, Black Codes, and the struggle for equal citizenship after the Civil War [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. A] |
| Topic | What the final standard covers |
|---|---|
| Transatlantic slave trade | The transatlantic slave trade in global context and its role in shaping societies and economies in the Americas [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] |
| African diaspora | Mapping the forced migration of Africans and the resulting African diaspora across the Americas [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] |
| Resistance and resilience | Introduction to resistance and cultural resilience among enslaved peoples in the Americas [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] |
| Topic | What the final standard covers | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Slavery in Texas | Enslaved and free Black Texans, and slavery's role in the Texas economy and the decision to secede [SBOE Approved Rule Text, 2026] | Retained |
| Juneteenth in Texas | Union forces' arrival in Texas and the origins of Juneteenth [SBOE Approved Rule Text, 2026] | Retained |
| Slavery as central cause of Civil War | Slavery identified as a central cause of sectionalism and the Civil War, including the Fugitive Slave Act and Dred Scott decision [Texas Tribune, 2026] | Board voted to retain |
| Abolitionist movement | Douglass, Truth, Tubman, and the broader abolitionist movement against slavery [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] | Retained |
| Nat Turner's Rebellion | Nat Turner's Rebellion as a slave uprising that heightened sectional tensions [Texas Tribune, 2026] | Restored on the floor |
| Reconstruction Amendments | 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and their impact on Black citizenship and rights [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] | Retained |
| KKK violence and intimidation | Ku Klux Klan violence and intimidation against Black Texans during Reconstruction [Texas Tribune, 2026] | Restored on the floor |
| Jim Crow and legal segregation | Jim Crow laws, Plessy v. Ferguson, and legal segregation in the South and in Texas [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] | Retained |
| School desegregation | Brown v. Board of Education and Sweatt v. Painter (Texas case) [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] | Retained |
| Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act | Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] | Retained |
| Nonviolent protest movement | Sit-ins, marches, and Freedom Rides as tools of the Civil Rights Movement [19 TAC Ch.113, Subch. B] | Retained |
| Segregation definition line | One race-explicit definitional line on legal segregation, and one general "underrepresented voices" skill standard [Texas Tribune, 2026] | Removed (2 lines) |
| Figure | Role / context | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Frederick Douglass | Abolitionist leader, formerly enslaved, key voice against slavery | Retained |
| Sojourner Truth | Abolitionist and women's rights advocate | Retained |
| Harriet Tubman | Underground Railroad conductor, symbol of resistance to slavery | Retained |
| Hiram Rhodes Revels | First Black U.S. Senator, Reconstruction-era representation | Retained |
| W.E.B. Du Bois | Scholar, NAACP co-founder | Retained |
| Booker T. Washington | Educator, vocational-education advocate | Retained |
| Marcus Garvey | Black nationalism and Back-to-Africa movement leader | Retained |
| James Farmer Jr. | CORE co-founder, Freedom Rides leader | Retained |
| Barbara Jordan | Texas legislator and U.S. Congresswoman | Retained |
| Lulu Belle Madison White | Texas NAACP civil rights organizer | Retained |
| Martin Luther King Jr. | National Civil Rights Movement leader | Restored on the floor |
| Bessie Coleman | First Black woman to earn a pilot's license | Added on the floor |
| [Figure removed by advisors] | One individual originally cut from an early advisor draft | Removed, replaced by a different named figure |
Based on the record of advisor drafts versus the final adopted text, exactly one named individual was dropped from an early draft and replaced with a different named figure — not a wholesale removal of Black historical figures. Every other individual listed above, including Martin Luther King Jr. (restored) and Bessie Coleman (added), remains in or was added to the final standards.
Sources & References
All sources below are primary regulatory text, direct on-the-record reporting from inside SBOE meetings, or original statements from named advocacy organizations and the candidate's own campaign materials. No secondary summaries were used as a substitute for primary text where primary text was available. Formatted in APA 7th edition style; entry titles link directly to the verified source.
Texas Education Agency. (2024). 19 TAC Chapter 113, Subchapter B: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, Middle School (§§113.18–113.20).
Official, currently-effective regulatory text governing Texas middle school social studies, including all currently required slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction content.
Texas Education Agency. (2024). 19 TAC Chapter 113: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies [Table of contents, all subchapters].
Official, currently-effective rule index confirming baseline high school and middle school requirements prior to the 2026 rewrite.
Texas State Board of Education. (2026, June). Attachment II: Text of proposed new 19 TAC Chapter 113, Subchapter B, Middle School [Draft TEKS circulated for board review].
Draft text of the newly adopted K-8 standards, used to verify which slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights content remained present in the proposed rewrite.
Edison, J. (2026, June 22). Mandated Bible stories in reading lists, revamped history for Texas public schools approved. The Texas Tribune.
On-the-record account from inside the SBOE's final June 2026 vote, detailing specific standards removed, reinstated, and adopted, sourced directly to board members and content advisors.
The Texas Tribune. (2026, April 6). Texas students call for inclusion in social studies overhaul.
Contemporaneous reporting on the April 2026 preliminary approval and community objections prior to the final June vote.
Austin Chronicle. (2026, June 28). Republican-majority SBOE approves Bible-infused required reading lists and social studies curriculum.
Broadcast/print reporting quoting the American Historical Association's June 26, 2026 statement that the draft TEKS would "not provide an effective foundation for K-12 history education," citing omissions and distortions in the standards.
Texas Freedom Network. (2026, April 12). SBOE preliminarily approves social studies TEKS, reading list.
Left-leaning advocacy group's direct account of April 2026 hearing, including its characterization of civil rights and equality standard omissions.
Texas Values. (2026, July 5). America and Texas win at the Texas State Board of Education on 250th anniversary of our nation.
Conservative advocacy group's first-person account of the June 2026 floor debate, amendments, and vote counts, offered as a counter-narrative to left-leaning coverage.
Los Angeles Times. (2015, July 6). Do new Texas textbooks whitewash slavery and segregation?
Historical context on prior (2010-cycle) criticism of Texas social studies standards, including the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's independent conservative critique.
Texas Public Policy Foundation. (2026, June). Making history: Texas SBOE to decide on social studies revisions.
Primary-source advocacy memo laying out supporters' substantive rationale for removing or revising certain race-specific standards, including segregation and slavery phrasing.
Texas Public Policy Foundation. (2022, July 14). The Texas media war against Texas.
Conservative rebuttal to 2022 "involuntary relocation" media coverage, arguing the controversy was overstated and mischaracterized by press outlets.
Randall, D. (2026, February). Recommendations for the SBOE on the Work Group draft social studies TEKS [Content advisor feedback memo]. Texas State Board of Education.
Official content-advisor feedback memo published by the SBOE website, showing the broader philosophical objection to a "skills focus," "multiple perspectives" language, and inquiry framing across the draft standards.
Chavez, N. (2025, November 14). Texas State Board of Education advisers signal push to the right in ongoing social studies redesign. The Texas Tribune.
Reporting on the composition of the nine SBOE-appointed content advisors, their professional backgrounds, and concerns raised by educators and historians about the panel's ideological makeup.
Davis for Texas. (2026). On the issues [Campaign website, education platform].
Aicha Davis's own stated campaign position calling to "stop MAGA's attempts to rewrite science and erase history from textbooks," used to source and contextualize the opponent's actual claim.
CBS News. (2022, June 30). Texas education officials proposed changing "slavery" to "involuntary relocation" for second grade standards.
On-the-record account of Aicha Davis's 2022 objection as a sitting SBOE member, and the TEA's and SBOE's subsequent unanimous rejection of that specific proposed language.
Wineburg, S. (2020, March 6). I helped fact-check the 1619 Project. The Times ignored me. Politico Magazine.
Detailed account by a historian/fact-checker describing objections to the 1619 Project's central claims and the New York Times' handling of those objections.
The New York Times Magazine. (2019, December 20). We respond to the historians who critiqued the 1619 Project.
The Times' own response to historians' criticisms, useful for showing that the project's defenders acknowledged a live dispute rather than a settled historical consensus.
Independent Institute. (2025, July 16). The 1619 Project has failed. Why do academics still take it seriously?
Long-form critique summarizing how a number of mainstream historians argued that the 1619 Project blurred the line between advocacy framing and rigorous historical scholarship.
Texas Education Agency. (2026). Required curriculum.
Texas Education Agency. (2020, July). Ethnic Studies: African American Studies (19 TAC §113.51).
Texas Education Agency. (n.d.). 19 TAC Chapter 74, Subchapter C: Other courses.
Texas State Board of Education. (2023, August–September). Committee on Instruction Item 2: Update on Ethnic Studies innovative courses.
Texas Education Agency. (2026). 19 TAC Chapter 113, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies (Subchapter A, Elementary) .
Texas Education Agency. (2026). 19 TAC Chapter 113, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies (Subchapter B, Middle School) .