The Amistad Commission Provides Resources to Incorporate Black History into Curricula

New Jersey’s Amistad Bill became law in 2002, mandating schools incorporate African American history in social studies curricula. The only problem was the law established no real consequences for districts that did not comply.

Eventually, it was strengthened in 2021 and the Amistad Commission—the body created to oversee curriculum implementation— was given more agency to execute its work. The update created a line item in the state budget for the commission and expanded African American history to all subjects, not just social studies.

Dr. Patrick J. Lamy is The Amistad Commission’s executive director and is passionate about getting the right resources into the hands of teachers and administrators. He has implemented new initiatives to inspire educators and compares the prior nonchalance toward the Amistad Bill to running a red light.

“If I run one when an officer is on the corner, I'm going to get a ticket,” he said. “What happens if a district refuses to implement? There’s no real consequences.”

Dr. Lamy also points to lawmakers being disconnected from the communities they are serving.

“We put legislation out there without engaging teachers at the table. I think that’s a failed opportunity for integrating conversations across all platforms.”

As The Amistad Commision’s leader, Dr. Lamy brings new strategies that strengthen any prior weaknesses. This includes the commission’s first five-year plan, creating a student advisory council and knowing who to engage.

“The approach we’re taking now is different than 20 years ago,” Dr. Lamy said. “The engagement we’re looking at now is heavily student-focused. For 22 years, we did not ask any questions of the students.”

Student participation is necessary for Dr. Lamy, who sees deep value in understanding youth perspectives.

“A component is students teaching teachers,” he said. “We’ve focused a lot on the teaching perspective but not a lot on the outcome perspective of the students.”
 

Encouraging successful outcomes instead of enforcing them
 

Dr. Lamy doesn’t believe educators should be penalized if the Amistad bill is not implemented. Instead of focusing on doling out punishment, he prefers to put that energy into teacher resources.

“It’s not work I'm going to force,” he said. “I'm not an enforcer of the law—I’m a guide.”

Instead, the Amistad Commission works hard to provide resources educators want to engage with. The annual Summer Institute, for example, is a three-day virtual and in-person conference that helps educators reimagine classroom narratives and create lesson plans and policies that reflect the Amistad legislation. According to Dr. Lamy, 2024’s conference was the highest attended.

“We never exceeded 100 participants in 20 years,” he said. “This past year, we exceeded 300.”

The response prompted the Amistad Commission to create a similar institute for superintendents and principals. The event received the same energy as 2024’s Summer Institute, with 150 attendees registered.

“We didn’t do a good job of collaborating across the state, however, I think the energy where we stand now, we’re in position for growth.”

Part of that growth included conducting the first statewide teacher survey to determine what the Amistad Commission is doing well, where there are gaps and if the teachers have even heard of the commission. In total, 1,100 New Jersey educators shared their thoughts with the Amistad Commission.

“When you read the Amistad law, one of the responsibilities is the commission has to conduct surveys on the work being done—we somehow did not do that in 20 years.”

Dr. Lamy emphasizes the survey’s importance, as it informs how the Amistad Commission should evolve. Without that data, the organization stayed stagnant.

“We didn’t have measurable outcomes or an idea of what we wanted to accomplish,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we just didn’t do.”
 

Getting the word out

After reviewing survey responses, Dr. Lamy and his team recognized the need for a communications campaign. They learned a resource drought was a significant reason districts were not implementing the Amistad Bill. Educators simply did not know where to start.

On January 25, 2025, the Amistad Commission stepped up as an educator resource with a new, interactive website. Teachers have instant access to law information and lesson plans organized by grade.

“Our intention is to be flexible and available at any point in time,” Dr. Lamy said. “We realized that teachers need to have information available to use right away.”

To be proactive about getting these resources into teachers’ hands, the Amistad Commission ramped up district engagement. In the three years since Dr. Lamy took on the executive director role, distract engagement increased from 200 to 300 districts. During this engagement, the Amistad Commission introduced the law and opened up resource channels for teachers.  

“We’re here as a resource, it’s not a ‘You must’ order,” Dr. Lamy said. “That puts people on the defensive.”

In addition to the new website, The Amistad Commission has a book collection educators can access. In fact, Dr. Lamy hopes educators access them.

“They’re sitting here without a destination, so I would love to ship them,” he said with a laugh.
 

To learn more about The Amistad Commission, please visit the organization’s website here. To go directly to district resources, click here.

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