Shirley Chisholm 'Reduced To Footnote' In FSU Sociology Textbook

The Florida Board of Governors recently approved a revised version of the general education sociology textbook Introduction to Sociology, which is required reading for introductory sociology courses at Florida State University.

However, these so-called “edits” are raising major red flags for many folks, including educators, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, myself, and anyone with a remotely discerning eye.  

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On Feb. 18, the United Faculty of Florida held a webinar urging college faculty to push back against the state’s efforts to censor introductory sociology courses following the release of a state‑approved syllabus and the edited version of Introduction to Sociology, which removes from the curriculum important discussions on race, gender, class, and inequality.

As part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s long-standing effort to eliminate what he calls “woke ideology” from higher education, more than half of the book’s original content has been removed, dwindling it down from 669 pages to 267, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

These changes involve eliminating four entire chapters, including one on race and ethnicity and another on the government-sanctioned genocide of Native Americans, while some new material has been added. In the original book, which was a free, “open” textbook written by 13 contributing authors from colleges across the country, the term “racism” appeared 115 times. However, it is only mentioned six times in the new version, according to the faculty union. 

During the webinar, one instructor pointed out multiple typos throughout the text, which they said show how quickly it was compiled and distributed without proper review. If taking the time to use a simple tool like spell check was not prioritized, what are we to think of how thoroughly this new text was fact-checked, if it was at all? The addition of “new material” is particularly concerning with respect to truth and transparency.

Professors said they were told by university administrators that the textbook was cut to comply with a 2023 state law prohibiting general education college courses that “distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.”

The same law also prompted state agencies that oversee colleges and universities to remove Introductory Sociology from Florida’s core course list altogether in 2024. Students can still take the class, but it will not fulfill their general education requirements because, according to DeSantis, sociology is “highly ideological” and “not the type of academic rigor that we’re looking for.”

“This textbook serves the ideological interests of the Florida state government over the value of the intellectual contributions of sociologists in our field,” said Evan Lauteria, an assistant instructional professor at UF, according to The Gainesville Sun. “Presenting this text as representative of our discipline effectively erases our field’s capacity to address social problems and sets a dangerous precedent for the state to impose its own definition of science well beyond sociology.”

Examples of the social problems the state wants to silence with the new version of the book include the killing of Trayvon Martin and the Black Lives Matter movement, both of which were removed despite existing in the previous text.

Similarly, Shirley Chisholm, the history-making American politician who became the first Black woman to be elected to the United States Congress in 1968, also got an update in the latest version of the textbook. “They reduced Shirley Chisholm, a trailblazer who broke barriers for every Black woman who came after her, to a single footnote,” wrote Ben Crump on his Instagram, leading many users to sound off in the comments.

“As a Florida mom of now adults who went through the Florida college system years ago, the advice I give to other Florida parents is not to send your kids to college in this state and if you can, move out altogether,” wrote Rita Burdo.

“How could this be done without the authors’ permission?” asked Max Wilson.

“This is why we must teach our children their history at home,” commented Morgann Royster.

But it was Lauren Wampler Gunhus who summed it up best, keeping it quick and not-so-cute, she wrote: “F–king Florida.”

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