in
Washington, DC. For decades, critics of the
College Board and advanced placement programs have argued that curricula have focused too much on
Euro-centric history. Between 2017 and 2020, the College Board partnered with the
University of Notre Dame and
Tuskegee University to pre-pilot AP African American Studies in 11 selected schools. In 2021, the College Board announced that it would be officially piloting AP African American Studies course to begin in the 2022–2023 academic year. The course was piloted in approximately 60 schools across the United States in its first year. AP African American Studies was the first ethnic studies course offered by College Board, and was the first pilot course since 1952. Topics in the pilot course range from
Queen Nzinga in northern
Angola to the
Harlem Renaissance and the
Black Panthers. Advocates of the launch of AP African American Studies argue the course will help attract more African American students to AP programs and will bolster minority scores. According to 2019 data, 32% of Black students passed their AP exams compared to 44% of White and Asian students. Additionally, the College Board described that AP African American Studies would further "[attract] Black and [Latino] high school teachers".
Staff Brandi Waters is the executive director of AP African American Studies for College Board. Leaders in the field of
Black studies, such as
Henry Louis Gates,
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, and
Robert Patterson assisted in the creation of the course. The ultimate goal of the course is to teach that Black history is not limited to
slavery or the
Civil Rights Movement. College Board CEO David Coleman responded by stating, "There are no points ever awarded on [any] AP exam for agreeing with a point of view. Rather, students encounter evidence and make up their own minds." Daniel Soderstrom, one of the teachers of the pilot course, stated in an interview with CNN, "we're teaching factual information, and everything is verifiable." The course was featured on
America in Black, a television show that first aired on BET, VH1, and CBS February 19, 2023, where Soderstrom's class at
Ridge View High School was interviewed. The segment highlighted the push-back from conservatives like
Ron DeSantis in the implementation of the course, as well as positive reactions from community members and students.
Course controversy Throughout 2022, during the administration of Florida's
Republican governor
Ron DeSantis, Florida state officials had repeated contact with the College Board, often discussing parts of the course found "objectionable." On January 12, 2023, the
Florida Department of Education's Office of Articulation sent a letter to
College Board saying the course was "inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value." The letter reportedly did not specify what was objectionable to the department, but a spokesperson for DeSantis indicated that the course left "large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material." DeSantis later gave his reason for the ban as the inclusion of
queer theory and
intersectionality in the course, as well as content regarding the role prisons play in systemic oppression, and stated that these topics were on “the wrong side of the line for Florida standards”. Though College Board pushed back on these topics it had found to be central to college-level African American Studies, they were largely removed in its February update, with intersectionality becoming an optional focus for the course's final project. According to
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, one of the architects of the course, Florida's Department of Education saw "buzzwords" and falsely assumed that the material was required. Rather, Higginbotham maintained, students are expected to use sources from all sides of the political spectrum. In February 2023, in interviews with both
CBS and
NPR, the president of the
College Board,
David Coleman, and the senior director of the program, Brandi Waters, stated that students will still have access to materials of all political backgrounds and that College Board has not backed down or "watered down its curriculum" because of media attention. Coleman also said that the curriculum was changed well before DeSantis announced the state's intent to ban the course in Florida and that College Board does not "bend to politics." The
South Carolina Department of Education eliminated funding of AP African American Studies in public schools, sparking criticism from civil rights leaders and accusations of "whitewashing" history. It is the third state to ban or restrict the course, following Florida and Arkansas. The decision, announced in a June 4, 2024 memo, allows the course only as an elective but not as an AP class. The department cited upcoming social studies standards review and legislative controversies as reasons for the decision. Despite assurance of continued African American history, organizations like the
American Civil Liberties Union and
NAACP criticized the move, arguing it deprives students of comprehensive education.
Course development timeline • 2017–2020 • Pre-pilot in 11 schools • February 2022: • Pilot schools and educators identified and briefed • July 2022: • Pilot educators trained at
Howard University • August/September 2022: • Pilot course launched • May 2023: • Pilot course exam • August/September 2023: • Additional schools (approximately 200) and educators added to pilot program ==Course overview==