The College Board’s new AP African American Studies course faces backlash

The recently introduced course, which would teach about topics such as intersectionality and activism, has received both praise and criticism across the country. Unsplash

The College Board’s Advanced Placement African American Studies course — introduced in December 2022 after a rise in advocacy of the education of Black history, race and racism since the resurgence of racial justice protests starting in 2020 — has been met with mixed opinions.

A curriculum 10 years in the making, AP African American Studies is being piloted by 60 high schools across the country and will be officially available nationwide in the 2024-25 school year. 

The AP African American Studies program is an interdisciplinary class that covers topics such as Black history, literature, political science and art, among other subjects. 

Quaylan Allen, the founding director of Chapman University’s Africana Studies minor and an associate professor in the College of Educational Studies, spoke to The Panther on the benefits of taking the AP course.

“The benefits of taking AP African American Studies for Black and non-Black students (are) the history, the culture, contributions of African Americans (and) the larger kind of language and politics of the African Diaspora,” Allen said.

Despite this, some politicians have disapproved of the course. In January 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration rejected AP African American Studies as he and other officials believe it furthers a “political agenda.”

“Education is about the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of ideology or the advancement of a political agenda,” DeSantis wrote in a Jan. 23 tweet.

On Feb. 1, the College Board released the official curriculum for the AP course, which lacks the breadth of the content in several key units found in the pilot version, including intersectionality and activism, Black feminist literary thought, Black queer studies and perspectives from Black scholars.

In a Feb. 1 statement, the College Board disapproved of accusations that it completely removed these topics and that it was trying to appease Florida after it rejected AP African American Studies.

“We reject any claim that our work either indoctrinates students or, on the other hand, has bowed to political pressure,” Kerry Haynie, the dean of Social Sciences and a professor in the Department of Political Science and Department of African American Studies at Duke University, said in the statement.

Allen said that banning or limiting the content of courses like AP African American Studies neglects Black people’s history, culture, challenges and achievements.

“In essence, it is a form of censorship, and at worst, erasure of Black history — certainly Black studies as a field, as a result of Black struggle and activism,” Allen said. “It would make sense that the content of an AP African American Studies course reflect the theories, practices and philosophical standpoints that were born out of (Black people’s) struggle — intersectionality, Black feminist thought, Black queer studies, et cetera.”

Allen also explained that decreasing the content of several units in the AP course ignores America’s history of oppressing Black people and reflects the retaliation against Black activist movements. 

“To remove this foundational content is to erase not only the effort and success of Black activism, but also to downplay our nation’s role in the suppression of Black bodies, Black progress and Black liberation,” Allen said. “The other concern is the attack on African American studies (is) usually part of a larger pushback on Black activism, such as the current civil rights movement of the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Allen also discussed the government’s tendency to repress Black people’s voting rights, economic opportunities, right to a fair education and culture and history, all of which he explained are part of the anti-activist hate and demonstrate the need for Black studies.

Allen said that even though the College Board shortened the AP African American Studies curriculum and lacks the complexity and difficulty of a college-level Black studies class, the class can still be effective.

“The cuts to the curriculum are problematic,” Allen said. “That being said, I still think it can be effective, but I think it will largely depend on the agency of teachers, of school districts, or even states, to decide (to) teach this content. Teachers can still teach the content. Districts and states could still decide to teach the content, even though it was cut by the College Board.”