Black history is American history

Florida’s wrongful banning of AP African American History

JACKIE MARQUEZ /OPINION EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

If you’ve ever read “Fahrenheit 451,” you know that banning information is a dangerous form of control. It is evident that Florida lawmakers haven’t read Ray Bradbury’s book. Last month, the Florida Department of Education sent a letter to the College Board stating that they had decided to ban the AP African American Studies course. The course is still brand new, with the 2022-2023 school year being its debut. 

According to Education Weekly, the Florida Department of Education’s letter described the course as “inexplicably contrary to Florida law, and significantly lack[ing] educational value.” Soon after, the College Board cut out a significant portion of the class. According  to the New York Times, the removed content included theories like intersectionality, the work of Black feminists like bell hooks and the work of thinkers whose work related to Critical Race Theory like Angela Davis. They also made the study of current movements, like Black Lives Matter, optional. 

The Department’s two reasons for opposing the course are unjust. Florida education laws are slowly encroaching on students’ freedoms by censoring materials, which should not be the standard for educational courses. On top of this, by deeming African American history as “inappropriate and lacking in educational value,” they deprive students of an opportunity to learn about the history and experiences of Black Americans. 

The Florida law that the College Board’s course violated was the “Stop Wrong to Our Kids and Employees Act,” abbreviated as the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act.” The text of the law is vague, but according to the Florida Senate, it prevents any instruction or training that could compel students or employees to believe that they are privileged or oppressed because of their race or gender. 

This isn’t a great standard to weigh a history class. When we look at the historical mistreatment of Black Americans, it’s evident that oppression was tied to race. Slavery was oppression based on race. Segregation under Jim Crow was oppression based on race. If learning about these topics prompts students to believe that race plays a role in oppression, then how can we not teach about oppression through the lens of racism? 

This law lays the foundation for government officials to censor educational professionals. As Jeremy Young, the Senior Manager of free expression and education at PEN America, explained to the New York Times, the College Board’s response of stripping down the course material risks sending a dangerous message. It potentially communicates that, “political threats against the teaching of particular types of content can succeed in silencing that content.” This message is dangerous, because it suggests that whoever’s in power can shape how we teach our history, by silencing ideas they don’t agree with. 

This censorship also restricts the freedoms of parents and children. First and foremost, AP African American Studies is an extracurricular, just like every other AP course. The class is completely voluntary — no one is being “forced” to learn about African American history. By banning the course, the Department of Education is restricting parents’ and childrens’ choices. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, this is contradictory to the right to free speech, which is protected under the First Amendment. As they explain, “Even with respect to K-12 education, where states generally have latitude to determine school curricula, these bills overstep the government’s legitimate authority.” Rather than allowing students and parents to choose whether or  not they want to learn about African American history, the  government is taking  that option  entirely off the table. Frankly, it’s paternalistic. 

African American history is American history, and because of that it inherently has educational value, even for the people that claim it doesn’t. However, opponents to the course claim that the subject material is concerning and inappropriate. Florida education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. highlights the “concerning” topics found in the course and gives an explanation as to why they are so concerning on his Twitter account. Among these topics are Intersectionality, Black Queer Studies, Movements for Black Lives, Black Feminism, The Reparations Movement and Black Struggles in the 21st Century. At a college level, these theories are foundational; ethnic studies courses focus on these theories as frameworks to analyze history. The appeal of AP courses is that they are taught at a college level, and their tests can be taken for college credit. Given that high schoolers are using these courses to learn advanced material for college credit, it’s reasonable and acceptable that the course material is more advanced than what is typically taught in high school history classes. 

These topics are crucial to understanding the diverse experiences of Black Americans. Intersectionality, for example, looks at how both race and gender influence a person’s lived experiences. It highlights how Black women have unique experiences from Black men and white women. Black queer studies focus on the experiences of LGBTQ+ people of color.  Black Americans have multifaceted identities that deserve to be learned about, but their experiences are often left out of mainstream education. Studies of marginalized groups such as queer folks are often seen as political. It’s disheartening that aspects of people’s identities are treated as part of an agenda, rather than something we can learn from. These topics capture experiences that are relevant to the current events Black students are living through today, so students should have the option to learn about them. 

The biggest argument against these topics is that they are indoctrinating children. As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told his audience in a press conference, “We want education, not indoctrination.” Indoctrination is defined by Oxford Languages as “The process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.” In teaching Black history, schools do the opposite of indoctrination. History has been historically taught from a white perspective. When students learn about westward expansion, for instance, they learn about “manifest destiny” and how Americans believed it was their “god-given right” to expand their territory. Students don’t learn nearly as much about the genocide of Native Americans that occurred as a result of westward expansion. Some students in the south learn about the Civil War as a war of northern aggression. When it comes to the causes, they’re taught about conflicts around states’ rights, rather than conflicts over owning slaves.

 When students learn history from a Black perspective, they are learning about American history from a different angle. It gives them a lens to criticize the history they’ve already learned. Labeling anything that contradicts the dominant narratives of education as “indoctrination” is dangerous, especially if those contradictions to the prevailing curriculum actually promote critical thinking. Without considering Black perspectives, our history will continue to reiterate white-dominated perspectives, which is why these critical viewpoints are so important. 

Ultimately, studying Black history gives students the opportunity to learn about   Black culture and think critically. It also gives students  the tools to address issues  that the Black community faces and  has  faced  historically in America. In banning these course materials, the Florida Department of Education censors educators, limits the freedom of parents and students, devalues Black experiences, and deprives high schoolers of an opportunity to learn about Black history.