AP African American Studies course to be offered at U.S. high schools this fall

Sixty high schools across the United States have started offering AP African American studies courses.

About the AP African American studies course

The College Board, a non-profit organization, announced the pilot program in February. Courses will begin this month with the start of the school year.

Curriculum

The Advanced Placement curriculum will be interdisciplinary looking at:

• the history of civil rights
• African American music
• literature
• the arts and humanities
• political science
• geography
• science
• and will explore important contributions and experiences of African Americans.

First of its kind

The pilot program plans to expand the following academic year to add additional schools.

The course is expected to be available to all interested high schools in the 2024-25 school year, allowing time to secure valuable credit and placement policies at colleges and universities, according to the College Board.

High school teachers involved in the African American Studies pilot convened at Howard University this summer to review the course’s framework and prepare for the course’s launch, part of the comprehensive support that AP offers for educators, the College Board said to CNN.

Course is not CRT

Renowned educator Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. praised the new curriculum, saying the course work is “rigorously vetted” and should not be confused with the critical race theory concept, which has become a social and political conversation piece.

“Nothing is more dramatic than having the College Board launch an AP course in a field – that signifies ultimate acceptance and ultimate academic legitimacy,” Gates said in a statement.

“AP African American Studies is not CRT. It’s not the 1619 Project. It is a mainstream, rigorously vetted, academic approach to a vibrant field of study.”