AP African American Studies
Can Florida be wrong but not wrong?
--
In 2020, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that said federal contractors couldn’t use Critical Race Theory in racial sensitivity training.
Most Americans have never heard of CRT. The few that did couldn’t explain it. Meanwhile, the Left claimed CRT was a supplement to black history, while the Right insisted CRT promoted perpetual conflict between the races.
Confused parents wanted to know whether CRT was history or conflict theory. If CRT was the latter, parents didn’t want it taught in K–12 public schools. The Left denied CRT was taught in K–12 curriculums, but the Right insisted CRT was incorporated through teaching strategies.
In 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 7, which was meant to protect Floridians from discrimination and “woke indoctrination.”
The Governor’s website stated, “HB 7 protects civil rights in employment and K–20 education by specifying that subjecting an employee or student to a required activity that promotes, advances, or compels individuals to believe discriminatory concepts, constitutes unlawful discrimination. [However] The bill authorizes discussion of topics such as sexism, slavery, racial oppression, racial segregation, and racial discrimination, in an age-appropriate manner … Schools are required to teach factual information on topics including African American history and the Holocaust instead of subjective indoctrination that pushes collective guilt.”
In 2023, Florida turned down the Advanced Placement in African-American Studies pilot course from the College Board. The course was meant to introduce high school students to the field.
Florida’s Department of Education insisted that the AP African-American Studies course was contrary to Florida’s law and lacked educational value. Florida’s DOE told the College Board that if the AP African-American Studies course comes into compliance and incorporates “historically accurate content” the DOE will reconsider.
Florida’s DOE stated that these course topics were out of bounds. 1). Intersectionality and Activism 2). Black Queer Studies 3). Movements for Black Lives 4). Black Feminist and Literary Thought 5). The Reparations…
