AP African American Studies Course Rejected By DeSantis Administration

FLORIDA — An Advanced Placement course on African American history has been banned from Florida schools by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, according to multiple reports.

In a Jan. 12 letter to the College Board, which oversees AP coursework, the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation claimed that the course violates state law and questioned its historical accuracy, CNN reported.

State officials wrote in the letter that the course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

They told the College Board that if the organization was “willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion.”

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Education officials didn’t specify in the letter what content from the course they found objectional or which law it violated, according to reports.

“Despite the lies from the Biden White House, Florida rejected an AP course filled with critical race theory and other obvious violations of Florida law,” Manny Diaz Jr., Florida’s education commissioner, tweeted Friday afternoon. “We proudly require the teaching of African American history. We do not accept woke indoctrination masquerading as education.”

Among areas of concern in the course for state officials, according to a graphic tweeted by Diaz, are intersectionality and activism, Black queer studies, movements for Black lives, Black feminist literary thought, the reparations movement, and Black study and Black struggle in the 21st Century.

Earlier this year, the FDOE rejected 54 math textbooks because they included references to critical race theory, Common Core or social-emotional learning and claimed that publishers were attempting “to indoctrinate students.”

The new AP course is part of a pilot program debuting at 60 schools across the United States during this school year, according to the College Board website.

The organization has spent more than a decade developing the course.

In the 2023-24 school year, it will expand to hundreds of additional high schools, the agency said. By 2024-25 all schools in the U.S. can begin offering AP African American Studies.

In a statement to the Associated Press, the College Board said, “Like all new AP courses, AP African American Studies is undergoing a rigorous, multi-year pilot phase, collecting feedback from teachers, students, scholars and policymakers.”

Throughout the piloting process, the course could “change significantly” before it’s offered nationwide, the organization added.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.