3 Students Represented By Attorney Ben Crump In Lawsuit Against Gov. DeSantis On AP Class

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of three high school students against Gov. Ron DeSantis for preventing an Advanced Placement African American Studies course from being taught in Florida schools, according to a news release from the lawyer.

The attorney has worked on a number of high-profile civil rights cases, including representing the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

In a Jan. 12 letter to the College Board, which oversees AP coursework, the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation claimed 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.”

• Also Read: AP African American Studies Course Rejected By DeSantis Administration

Crump, joined by attorney Craig Whisenhunt, several elected officials and three AP honors students, who will be the lead plaintiffs in the case, announced the lawsuit during a news conference Wednesday at the Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee.

“Will we let Governor DeSantis or anybody exterminate Black history in the classrooms across America?” Crump asked, according to The Hill. “What this really is about is saying you cannot exterminate us. You cannot exterminate our culture, and you can never exterminate the value of our children to this world.”

Rep. Fentrice Driskell, a Tampa Democrat and House majority leader, said at the news conference, "By rejecting the African American history program, Gov. Ron DeSantis has clearly demonstrated that he wants to dictate whose history does, and doesn’t, belong. He wants to control what our kids learn based on politics and not sound policy. He repeatedly attacks the First Amendment rights of Floridians with books being banned from libraries and classrooms, and now is throwing his weight against this AP African American history course."

DeSantis is undermining the rights of parents and students to make the best decision for themselves, Driskell added.

"He wants to say that I don’t belong. He wants to say that you don’t belong, whose story does and doesn’t get to count. But we are here to tell him, we are America. Black history is American history and you are on the wrong side of history."

The courses that were to be taught on African American history were intended to explore how individual freedoms have been infringed by slavery, racial oppression, segregation, racial discrimination and laws that resulted in racial oppression, and highlight those individuals who worked to overturn unjust laws, said Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando.

Only 12 of the state's 67 school districts have been deemed to be doing an exemplary job teaching African American history by the Department of Education African American history task force, she said.

In an Instagram post following the news conference, Crump wrote, “Students must be allowed to learn!”

Rep. Michele Raynor, D-St. Petersburg, said at the new conference, “There are 2.8 million students sitting in public schools right now, knowing that their governor does not want them to learn about Black history."

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.”

The College Board said Wednesday frameworks often change significantly as a result as a result of the review. The framework is now expected to be released as soon as Feb. 1.

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