What’s in the new AP African-American Studies framework — and what’s not

ORLANDO, Fla. – The College Board, which handles advanced placement curricula for high schools, released its new framework for its AP African-American Studies course on Wednesday.

How different is it from the pilot framework that enflamed right-wing culture warriors and led to Florida rejecting the pilot? While its overall tenor remains the same, its most controversial elements have been stripped from required instruction and are now optional topics for a required student project section, according to a News 6 analysis of the frameworks.

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The AP African-American Studies pilot program, which was introduced last year with 60 high schools around the country, drew the ire of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz last month.

DeSantis rejected the program and said Florida schools would not take part in it. Diaz claimed it lacked “educational value” and was full of “Critical Race Theory and other violations of Florida law,” referring to the Stop WOKE Act which was passed last year.

The section that drew the most ire from state government represented only a small part of the overall coursework for the class, however — sections on Black feminist literary thought, intersectionality — the connection between genders, races or classes and overlapping systems of disadvantage — Black queer studies, the Black Lives Matter Movement and the reparations movement.

These topics were either severely watered down in the final framework or removed altogether from the required topics of instruction. Those topics still exist in the new framework, however. Students are now required to take on a research project, and those topics are part of a list of project topics. However, states and districts can refine the list of topics as they see fit.

The College Board insisted in a statement Wednesday that the process for the new framework was completed in December of 2022, before Florida’s very public rejection of the coursework.

“No states or districts have seen the official framework that is released, much less provided feedback on it. This course has been shaped only by the input of experts and long-standing AP principles and practices,” the College Board said in a statement.

The course is broken up into four units:

• Unit 1: “Origins of the African Diaspora,” focuses on early African societies and kingdoms, language, geography and economies, relations with Europe and early slavery.
• Unit 2: “Freedom, Enslavement and Resistance,” looks at African exploration and then takes a hard look at slavery, from its impact on African societies to the treatment of slaves, to the culture and art that grew from the African Diaspora, to rebellion and resistance in America and elsewhere, to abolition and how African Americans define themselves and grow post-slavery. This is the longest unit.
• Unit 3: ″The Practice of Freedom,” focuses on Reconstruction, the birth of Jim Crow and White Supremacy, the growth of Black institutions like Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Harlem Renaissance and social and cultural advancement.
• Unit 4: “Movements and Debates,” Dives into what it means to be Black in America. Topics include the Civil Rights Movement, segregation, the decolonizing of Africa, Black Power, the Black Panther Party, movements for Black women, and achievements for Blacks in politics, science and the economy. The unit still touches on continuing disparities in wealth, employment, education and other issues along racial lines and with topics like Redlining and housing discrimination, along with how the GI Bill was subject to discrimination. A section on movements in the 20th century does mention Black lesbians in the Civil Rights Movement specifically.

A spokesman for Gov. DeSantis’ office issued a statement Wednesday, saying it was reviewing the course and its corrections in “compliance with Florida law” and would provide an updated statement once the Dept. of Education had made a decision.

Read the pilot framework and the new framework below to compare them for yourself.

[AP African American Studies Pilot Framework]

[Final AP African American Studies Framework]

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