The State of Florida has barred the teaching of the new Advanced Placement African American studies course in the state’s public schools. According to the spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education, “In its current form, the College Board’s AP African American Studies course lacks educational value and is contrary to Florida law…If the course comes into compliance and incorporates historically accurate content, the Department will reopen the discussion.” The Education Department did not specify what provisions of Florida law were violated by the national test.
Local districts in the state can only offer a course if the state approves the course, meaning that AP African American Studies is now banned in Florida for public school students. The course is multidisciplinary and it includes subjects such as slavery, Civil War emancipation, the Reconstruction Era, and the recapture of former Confederate states by white “Redeemers” who imposed Jim Crow segregation.
A right-wing news site in Florida has published what it says is the syllabus for the AP course. Take a look at it in its entirety. Below I published those sections having to do with the periods I write about:
The AP guide also offers some examples of essay questions for this course. Here is one on the Civil War that asks students to consider Paul Dunbar’s poem on “The Colored Soldiers” and a photo of the United States Colored Troops to write about Blacks during the war:
