This academic year, the College Board is piloting an AP African American Studies (APAAS) program in 60 schools and plans to expand that program next year before offering the course nationwide in the 2024–2025 academic year. The course will be part of the College Board’s Advanced Placement program offering students college credit for taking the course and passing the exam. This interdisciplinary course has been in development for over a decade, drawing on the expertise of countless educators from the university to the P-12 level. As the website says, the “course reaches into a variety of fields — literature, the arts and humanities, political science, geography, and science — to explore the vital contributions and experiences of African Americans.”
Florida State University Schools in Tallahassee is one of the schools piloting the APAAS curriculum, and NPR spoke last August with Marlon Williams-Clark, the instructor for the course. Even though it was early in the semetser, Williams-Clark told NPR that the students were excited about the class, even going home and excitedly telling their parents about it. Willams-Clark said that no one had complained about the course or the curriculum, and when asked about Ron DeSantis’ Stop Woke Act and its impact on the course, Williams-Clark replied that “the law is the law” and that he told students, “we’ll just have to be careful how we talk about some things and how we approach some subjects.” He concluded by telling NPR that he sticks to Florida state standards.
Earlier this week, Desantis’ administration wrote a letter to the College Board claiming that, “as presented, the content of this course in inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.” It also stated that the College Board could retool the course and “come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content” and the Florida Department of Education would be open to reengaging in conversations about the course. Florida is the first state to reject the APAAS course, and it may not be the last because the Stop Woke Act’s language is similar to the language of many states, including its northern neighbor Georgia.
Desantis’ rejection of the APAAS course is not surprising considering the culture wars he has engaged in over the past few years. As well, it’s not historically new. White supremacists rejected the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) curriculum when it was introduced because, as Elizabeth Gillespie McRae points out, “anti-internationalists believed that [it] promoted collectivism, elevated the status of nonwhite nations, and eroded white supremacists beliefs,” so they fought it at school board meetings and in the press.