An Act
ENROLLED HOUSE
BILL NO. 1397 By: Lepak and West (Tammy) of
the House
and
Bergstrom and Jett of the
Senate
An Act relating to schools; mandating curriculum
include a unit on the civil rights movement;
providing description of curriculum; directing the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction to prepare
and make available materials; providing for
codification; and provid ing an effective date .
SUBJECT: Civil rights movement
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 11-103.6p of Title 70, unless
there is created a dupl ication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. The State Department of Educati on shall develop and make
available to every public elementary school and high school in the
State of Oklahoma, a curriculum that may be taught as a stand-alone
unit of instruction, or may be integrated into one or mo re existing
courses of study, studying the events of the civil rights movement
from 1954 to 1968, the natural law and natural rights principles
that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drew from tha t informed
his leadership of the civil rights movement, and the tactics an d
strategies of nonviolent resistance that he championed in response
to the Jim Crow laws of that era. This period in American history
is known as the civil rights era because during this period reform-
minded Americans organ ized to press for a rejection o f the doctrine
of "separate but equal" and to repeal the Jim Crow-era laws in parts
of the United States that embodied that doctrine. One of the ENR. H. B. NO. 1397 Page 2
universal lessons of the civil rights era is that hatred on the
basis of immutable characteristics, including not just race or
ethnicity, but also characteristics such as nationality, religious
belief, disability, or sex , can overtake any nation or society,
leading to profound injustice. To reinforce that lesson, such
curriculum shall include an additional unit of instruction studying
other acts of discriminatory injustice, such as genocide, committed
elsewhere around the globe . The study of this material is a
reaffirmation of the commitment of the people of this state to
reject bigotry, to champion equal protection under the law as a
foundational principle of our Republic, and to act in opposition to
injustice wherever it may occur.
B. The State Department of Education shall identify resources
and provide exemplar units or sample lesson plans designed to help
teachers provide instruc tion on the subject matter outlined in this
act.
SECTION 2. This act shall become eff ective November 1, 2023.
ENR. H. B. NO. 1397 Page 3
Passed the House of Representatives the 22nd day of March, 2023.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
Passed the Senate the 25th day of April, 2023.
Presiding Officer of the Senate
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Received by the Office of the Governor this ____________________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________
Approved by the Governor of the State of Oklahoma this _____ ____
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
_________________________________
Governor of the State of Oklahoma
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF S TATE
Received by the Office of the Secretary of State this __________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________