College Board rejects Florida claims on African American Studies

The feud about a proposed AP African American Studies course was already at a boil. Are we going to let Governor DeSantis or anybody exterminate black history from the classrooms in Florida? Not only is attorney Ben Crump threatening to sue the Florida Department of Education, the College Board Saturday released a statement to set the record straight and debunk what it calls a PR stunt by the state. In part, the College Board wrote, we deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education's slander magnified by the DeSantis Administration's subsequent comments that African American Studies lacks educational value. While it has been claimed that the College Board was in frequent dialogue with Florida about the content of AP African American Studies, this is a false and politically motivated charge. FDOE's most recent letter continues to deride the field of African American Studies by describing key topics as historically fictional. The Governor did not address the newest statement from the College Board but repeated his objection. So our Department of Education looked at that and said in Florida we do education, not indoctrination, and so that runs afoul of our standards.

Local Democratic Lawmaker LeVon Bracey Davis says the College Board needs to defend its curriculum. The Governor is full of insults as it relates to marginalized communities. We've seen it from everything from women to people of color, black and brown people, the LGBTQ community, the poor. In January, the FDOE cited six areas of concern with the course. Critical Race Theory, the teaching of theories about racism's effect on current government policy, the justice system, and social interaction. It rejected key writings by Dr. Angela Davis, an activist and former Communist Party member.

A portion of the course called Movements for Black Lives was dismissed for suggesting some corporations promote white supremacy. And another topic, black queer studies. The College Board expects the new course unveiled February 1st to be offered nationwide this fall.

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