*A new Advanced Placement course on African American studies will undergo changes following backlash from conservative political leaders.
The College Board said in a statement Monday that specific details about the changes would come “over the next few months.”
“We are committed to providing an unflinching encounter with the facts and evidence of African American history and culture,” the College Board said. “To achieve that commitment, we must listen to the diversity of voices within the field. The development committee and experts within AP remain engaged in building a course and exam that best reflect this dynamic discipline.”
The board had revised the African American studies course earlier this year after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blocked a new AP course for high school students on the subject.
READ MORE: College Board Revises A.P. Curriculum for African American Studies After DeSantis Criticism
EUR reported previously, citing CNN, that a January 12 letter to the College Board from the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation said the course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
“In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion,” the letter stated.
In February, the 234-page curriculum was unveiled and many of the topics that DeSantis criticized were removed, according to the New York Times.
Several Black writers and scholars who tackle topics related to critical race theory, queer issues, and Black feminism, were omitted from the framework. As Black Enterprise reports, they include author bell hooks as well as “Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a law professor at Columbia, Roderick Ferguson, a Yale professor who has written about queer social movements; and Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author who has made the case for reparations for slavery,” the outlet writes.
Per The College Board’s April 24 statement, “The updated framework, shaped by the development committee and subject matter experts from AP, will ensure that those students who do take this course will get the most holistic possible introduction to African American Studies.”
