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How the New African American Studies Course Was Purged

February 2, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Dexter Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., where Martin Luther King was the pastor for six years. (© FlaglerLive)

By Suneal Kolluri

On February 1, 2023– the first day of Black History Month – the College Board released the framework for its new Advanced Placement African American Studies course.




Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has criticized the pilot version of the African American studies course as lacking educational value, and his administration has banned the course from Florida’s public schools.

In the following Q&A, Suneal Kolluri, who specializes in the study of AP courses, provides insight into where the course hits the mark and where it comes up short.

1. What stands out most about the new AP African American Studies course?

The course curriculum puts Black people at the center. This is significant for two reasons.

First, Advanced Placement has long had courses focused on topics like European history and French language and culture, but no class that focuses primarily on the Black experience. This fact is particularly troubling given the struggles AP courses have had in recruiting and serving Black students. Black students make up just 9% of AP participants, despite making up 15% of high school students across the United States.




Given the prestige of Advanced Placement and the benefits afforded to those who participate – like more experienced teachers and better college outcomes – a course with the potential to attract more Black students to take AP is significant.

Second, across the country, few classes – with or without the AP label – are available to students interested in studying the Black experience. This course will likely give many students that opportunity for the first time.

2. Is the new AP African American studies course different from earlier versions?

Unfortunately, the course has been watered down compared to its pilot version. The pilot course, first made available in January 2023, was heavy on African and African American history, but in its fourth and final unit, included a robust examination of issues of race, racism and oppression in the present day. In the new course framework – released on February 1, 2023 – many of these current discussions of race, racism and oppression have disappeared.

The course is billed as an African American Studies course, not an African American history course. Interrogating present-day oppression is central to the discipline of African American studies. I believe eliminating this content produces a course that leaves students insufficiently prepared to participate in a multiracial democracy.

3. How did the political environment shape the new course?

The College Board insists that the political environment did not influence the recent revisions, but evidence suggests otherwise. In late January 2023, the DeSantis administration wrote to the College Board that it would not allow the implementation of AP African American Studies in Florida schools. The AP responded, not in defense of the pilot curriculum, but to assert that the content remained under revision until February 1 – the first day of Black History Month.

In the latest official course framework, many of the exact topics with which DeSantis had taken issue had been stricken from the required curriculum. Discussions in the pilot course about reparations, redlining, and Black Lives Matter are now included as topics that are not required as part of the course. Instead, they are listed to be covered optionally by students in their research projects for the class.




The College Board goes on to emphasize that this list of topics can be refined by states and districts. In my experience examining AP content, optional content is rare in AP curriculum.

4. What does this course leave out?

Specifically, the course has omitted content that would invite students to discuss racial oppression in the modern day. Perhaps in response to bans on critical race theory, authors like Kimberlé Crenshaw, a scholar who pioneered the field of critical race theory, have been stricken from the curriculum.

Other topics – like Black Lives Matter, incarceration and reparations – have been left out of the required curriculum, and are now included as optional topics for a research project.

5. What kind of grade would you give this course and why?

The grade would depend on whether I am grading on a curve. Comparing the course to other available options in U.S. high schools, the course would earn an A. To the best of my knowledge, no other broadly available course delves so deeply into the Black experience.

However, grading the course for its commitment to the ideals of African American Studies, its attempt to holistically present the Black experience in the United States, and its ability to prepare students for participating in democracy, the course fails. It gets an F.

African American Studies is not just African American history. Racism is not a relic of the past. African American Studies scholars know this, but Advanced Placement African American Studies students may not learn that. Unfortunately, I believe this is an abject failure for efforts to bring African American studies into high schools.

Suneal Kolluri is Assistant Professor of Education at the University of California, Riverside

The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Eileen Gernet says

    February 2, 2023 at 9:23 pm

    Is a slippery slope to education censorship. Racial discrimination is real and discussions regarding today’s problems can only lead to understanding for all people. I protested in the 60’s and thought the problem was at least becoming eradicated. Apparently not.
    What else is the governor going to tell us we can’t do or say !

  2. Deborah Coffey says

    February 3, 2023 at 7:19 am

    I am so disappointed in The College Board…a group of the smartest people ever that have always held the highest academic standards…kowtowing to the Fascist Ron DeSantis. Why?

  3. Deborah Coffey says

    February 4, 2023 at 8:36 am

    What a demeaning comment aimed at all educators! You think kids can be taught at home? They can’t. Parents aren’t trained to teach in-depth subject matter, nor are they knowledgeable enough. But, you keep putting real teachers down, keep disrespecting their talents and their love for their students, and you’ll have a country full of more stupid people than we’ve got now! You seem to forget…it takes a village.

  4. Robert says

    February 4, 2023 at 12:11 pm

    That’s the way it has been and the system of white supremacy continues to hide the dastardly, evil crimes against humanity perpetrated on African Americans.

  5. The Unvarnished Truth says

    February 4, 2023 at 3:45 pm

    The “real” teachers are the parents that prepare their children for society. It’s not a “teacher’s” job to do so. As I said and you seem to forget, I said plenty of things I would need a “teacher” to assist me in teaching my child. My father nor my grandfather couldn’t read but made it through life without the aid of “trained professionals”. I would never minimize the need for teachers and the mountain they have to climb to teach children that lacks basic socializing and learning skills because their FIRST “teachers” failed to do so. I don’t need a “skilled professional” to teach MY children about sex, politics, race, or religion. That is MY job. Your job is to teach them everything else…

  6. Dorothy Harris says

    February 5, 2023 at 5:41 am

    The “first teachers” is why racism continues

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