HB799 would require the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to develop a model world history curriculum that gives substantial attention to ancient African civilizations and their global influence. The bill’s findings state that world history instruction should reflect the full story of human civilization and that Black history predates enslavement, emphasizing Africa’s role in science, governance, trade, religion, architecture, and scholarship. The proposed curriculum specifically names civilizations and empires such as Egypt, Nubia, Carthage, Kush, Axum, Great Zimbabwe, Mali, and Songhai, along with the Moors in Spain and major centers of learning like Timbuktu.
The curriculum framework also includes African contributions to mathematics, medicine, architecture, maritime and trans-Saharan trade, the African diaspora, the Haitian Revolution, Pan-Africanism, the transatlantic slave trade, and modern decolonization and independence movements. Once developed, the department would notify school districts, community schools, and STEM schools of the model curriculum, and those schools could choose to use it. The bill does not mandate adoption, but it creates a state-developed instructional resource for world history education.
HB799 would add a new section to the Revised Code directing the Department of Education and Workforce to create a model curriculum for world history. It would not itself require districts or schools to adopt the curriculum, but it would establish a state-approved framework that local districts, community schools, and STEM schools may use. The bill would influence social studies instruction by expanding the state’s model content to include ancient African civilizations, the African diaspora, and modern African history, thereby shaping how world history may be taught in Ohio classrooms.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes, the overall sentiment appears supportive and educationally affirmative. The bill is framed as an effort to provide a more complete and accurate account of world history and to recognize African and African-descended peoples’ contributions to global civilization. Its introduction with multiple cosponsors suggests at least initial legislative interest, but there is no available voting history or hearing record to show broader agreement or opposition.
The main point of potential contention is curricular scope and emphasis. Supporters are likely to view the bill as correcting omissions in world history instruction and broadening students’ understanding of Africa’s historical role, while critics could argue that the bill places too much prescriptive detail into state curriculum guidance or reflects a particular interpretive approach to history. Because the bill is only introduced and there are no committee transcripts or votes, no specific objections from legislators, educators, or advocacy groups are documented in the available record.