After a school board meeting that went on for about seven hours yesterday, Harford County Public Schools in Maryland voted to offer the new and often-controversial AP African American Studies course, WJZ-TV (CBS affiliate) and WBAL News Radio (NBC affiliate) report.
Portrait of Harriet Tubman (Library of Congress/public domain)The advanced placement course will be offered at six high schools in the district and is said to have an overall interest level of about 90 students in its inaugural year. The district serves about 38,000 students in pre-K through 12th grade.
Some people at the meeting commented on the course’s controversy. “Are you not capable of crafting an African American History course that would steer away from the radical politics of this highly controversial AP course?” WJZ-TV quoted Suzie Scott with Moms for Liberty as saying. However, after a decision to make some additions to the curriculum, the board reversed its June decision to deny access to the course.
The AP African American Studies course is designed to be an interdisciplinary exploration of African Americans’ diverse experiences and contributions. It’s structured around four main units, each covering different historical periods:
- Origins of the African Diaspora (~900 BCE through the 16th century)
Ancient African societies and civilizations and the beginnings of the African diaspora and early interactions with other cultures.
- Freedom, Enslavement, and Resistance (16th century to 1865)
The transatlantic slave trade, the experiences of enslaved Africans in the Americas, and resistance movements and the fight for freedom.
- The Practice of Freedom (1865 to the 1940s)
Reconstruction and the post-Civil War era, the Great Migration and the establishment of African American communities, and cultural and political developments.
- Movements and Debates (the 1940s to the 2000s)
The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power movement, and contemporary issues and debates within African American communities.
As with most AP courses in the social sciences, the course emphasizes several vital skills, including source analysis, argumentation, and the application of disciplinary knowledge. Students engage with a variety of primary sources and materials, such as artifacts from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, African artworks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sketches from the Amistad trial, and writings by notable African American figures like Frederick Douglass, WEB Du Bois, and Maya Angelou.
Of course, they study historical documents, including the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and other artwork and writings. These topics and materials give students a comprehensive understanding of African American history and its impact on broader historical and contemporary contexts.
For more detailed information, visit the College Board’s AP Central website and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
According to the College Board, AP African American Studies availability is expanding rapidly across the US. As of the 2023-24 academic year, nearly 700 schools in over 40 states and the District of Columbia piloted the course, involving approximately 13,000 students. The course is launching officially for all schools in the 2024-25 school year.
The College Board has been actively developing and refining the course with input from hundreds of college professors, high school teachers, and experts in African American Studies. The goal is to provide a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum that reflects the academic standards of introductory college courses in this field.
