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Black History Month: How one Killeen teacher tackles a different side of history

Keina Cook decided to take her love of history deeper by sharing the untold stories of Black Americans throughout history.

KILLEEN, Texas — There's a whole side of U.S. history that has yet to be taught or is barely taught, so one Killeen High School teacher is switching it up.

Keina Cook has taught an African American history course since 2020 at Killeen High School. She said the class has expanded everyone's world view and their perception on history, allowing many of her Black students to build confidence now that they know more.

"The kids are very curious and I feel like we're all learning more and more every day," she added.

The course has evolved to include a book club where students read their favorite authors and give a platform to those who are Black.

The students have evolved too, she said. Many of them joined the course through their own volition, she said. Some just had a free period open, but no matter the reason, the kids have grown to love Cook.

"She really has opened our minds to what this class is," Kaitlyn Fresch, a junior at Killeen High, said.

Fresch mentioned a fact she learned from Cook that really "wowed" her: That is that Thomas Jefferson did not want slavery, though he felt it was what was best for the U.S. at the time economically and he owned his own slaves.

Read more about Jefferson's views on slavery by visiting monicello.org, an organization run by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Cook finds herself learning new things everyday too, like how Rosa Parks was helping the NAACP when she sat on the bus. In fact, she led the youth division at the Montgomery branch.

"I've always wanted to learn about Black history," Aanayae Berkley, a junior at Killeen High, said,

But not everyone in America is as lucky to learn this curriculum. This very class has been banned in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has said the course "lacks educational value and is contrary to Florida law." Cook and her students disagree.

"There's just so much history there for them to deny the truth and it's a really big part of American History," Berkley said.

Fresch noted that many Black people who were brought into America were taken into Florida, so she questions how, in Florida of all places, this history is not shared.

"I just know how much I have learned, so it's sad they won't know it too," she added.

Cook knows the benefits of this class amount to more than just good grades and a few factoids shared here and there.

This history and these teachings are going to shape future leaders.

"We're here to create a more perfect union and they're the ones that are going to do it," she said.

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