Florida Department of Education Denies African American Studies AP Course

In late January 2023, the Florida Department of Education rejected a proposed Advanced Placement course covering the topic of African American studies.  In a letter, state officials claimed that the class is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value” because proposed subjects include Black Lives Matter and the reparations movement.

The College Board, the non-profit organization that creates and regulates AP courses, developed the AP African American studies course over several years, with guidance from numerous African American scholars.  Topics taught in the course include the African diaspora; freedom, enslavement and resistance; and movements and debates, including the civil rights movement and discussions of identity and culture.  

The class is undergoing a pilot phase. Sixty schools across the United States are participating in this pilot program. The College Board seeks to administer the first AP African American studies exam in the Spring of 2025.

This is not the first time that Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has objected to the teaching of the topics of race and sexual orientation in his state’s public schools.  Last year, he signed the “Stop WOKE” Act into law.  This legislation aimed  to combat “woke indoctrination” in Florida businesses and schools by prohibiting instruction that could make some parties feel they bear “personal responsibility” for historic wrongdoings because of their race, sex or national origin.

There has been significant fallout from the Florida decision.  First, the College Board released a revised version of the African American studies curriculum, with certain units removed from the pilot course, including Black queer studies, Black feminist literary thought, and Black Lives Matter.  Such topics are now optional research topics.

Second. Governor DeSantis threatened to eliminate Advanced Placement classes from Florida schools altogether.  This threat was met with trepidation from parents of Florida high schoolers.  This is because they could end up paying more for their children’s college educations as students may no longer enter college with college credits by scoring highly on AP exams.  Nearly 200,000 Florida high school students took AP classes in the 2020-21 academic year.  

Nationally, education officials in Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Virginia have stated they will also review the new AP African American studies course to see if it conflicts with their policies or laws on how race can be taught.  On the other hand, New Jersey has taken a different approach to the AP African American studies course, with Democratic Governor Phil Murphy embracing its curriculum with open arms. At a press conference, Governor Murphy states that the course, as originally conceived, will expand to 25 additional schools within the Garden State  for the 2023-24 school year.

Governor Murphy went on to say, “Enough already of all this nonsense coming out of Florida, we want to expand the story and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even when it hurts.”