Nothing New Under the Sun: APAAS, Florida, and History

This academic year, the College Board is piloting an AP African American Studies (APAAS) program in 60 schools and plans to expand that program next year before offering the course nationwide in the 2024–2025 academic year. The course will be part of the College Board’s Advanced Placement program offering students college credit for taking the course and passing the exam. This interdisciplinary course has been in development for over a decade, drawing on the expertise of countless educators from the university to the P-12 level. As the website says, the “course reaches into a variety of fields — literature, the arts and humanities, political science, geography, and science — to explore the vital contributions and experiences of African Americans.”

Florida State University Schools in Tallahassee is one of the schools piloting the APAAS curriculum, and NPR spoke last August with Marlon Williams-Clark, the instructor for the course. Even though it was early in the semetser, Williams-Clark told NPR that the students were excited about the class, even going home and excitedly telling their parents about it. Willams-Clark said that no one had complained about the course or the curriculum, and when asked about Ron DeSantis’ Stop Woke Act and its impact on the course, Williams-Clark replied that “the law is the law” and that he told students, “we’ll just have…