African American studies

College Board to Change AP African American Studies Course, Acknowledges Changes to Suit Conservative Critics

Some leading scholars in Black studies have signed petitions calling on the College Board to revise the course, and are planning a nationwide day of protest on May 3 around “freedom to teach and to learn.” Civil rights groups and teachers’ union leaders are also set to participate.

What the Rejection of African American History Means for Students

by Monica Washington

When a state decides to minimize African American history and thought in its curriculum, it marks that history as "other" and denies all students the opportunity to understand the national past and the prospects for realizing democratic values in the future.

New Jersey Announces Increased Adoption of AP African American Studies

Governor Phil Murphy announced that the course will appear in 26 high schools (instead of the current 1), but the move is largely symbolic because of changes made to the course and the tiny percentage of the state's schools adopting the course. 

College Board Defends AP Course Decisions

The Board stated that it regretted failing to make its disagreements with Florida's assessment of the course as lacking in educational value, and that it had betrayed the trust of scholars who had worked with it to develop the course. 

Conversation: Why is AP Taking Activism Out of African American Studies?

Historians Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Robin D.G. Kelley discuss the roots of African American Studies in civil rights activism, which makes the decision to de-emphasize contemporary movements like Black Lives Matter inexplicable and diminishes the power of the course to help students make sense of the society.

Fear of a Black Studies Planet

by Roderick A. Ferguson

A scholar whose work was named in Florida's decision not to support the AP African American Studies course discusses a long history of conservative efforts to control textbooks and teaching and, failing that, to create politically useful hysteria about indoctrination. 

Dr. Bernice King's Statement on Florida's Rejection of AP African American Studies

"The children are waiting for you to step up, stop the propaganda and disinformation and show them how you will stand for justice and truth. The King Center stands ready to help facilitate a win-win outcome to the conflict around the AP African American Studies Curriculum."

Revisiting Saidiya Hartman on the Meaning of Freedom

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

A quarter century after publication, "Scenes of Subjection" still shows how Americans have embraced emancipation as a national expurgation of the sin of slavery, without stopping to consider the substantive meaning of freedom. 

Toni Morrison's Vision of Justice Was an Ethos of Care

by Farah Jasmine Griffin

"What does justice look like for centuries of systemic abuse and violence enacted by a society built upon withholding justice from Black people? In all of her novels Toni Morrison contemplates the nature and practice of justice."

Cornel West Is Leaving Harvard After Tenure Dispute

Dr. West’s dispute over tenure put a new focus on complaints that Black and Latino professors are underrepresented in the ranks of tenured professors, not just at Harvard. 

What Does African American Studies Need to Thrive?

A recent eruption of dissention in UCLA's African American Studies department arguably reflects the strains caused by poor institutional support by the university, an issue faced by Black Studies departments on many campuses.

Memory Haunts: John Edgar Wideman's Fictionalized Account of the 1985 MOVE Bombing

by Imani Perry

Wideman's account of events leading to the bombing of MOVE by Philadelphia police "is not just a map of the city but of the nation and our collective condition."

The Black Shoals: A New Book Theorizing Formations of Black and Native Studies

by J. T. Roane

 An interview with  Tiffany Lethabo King, author of The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies (Duke University Press, 2019).

The Student Strike That Changed Higher Ed Forever

50 years ago, studying the history and culture of any people who were not white and Western was considered radical.

Text chosen for Connecticut school’s African American History course stirs controversy

But what may be more interesting is that only 2 school districts in the country require all students starting to take a half-year course in African-American Studies, Caribbean/Latin-American Studies or Perspectives on Race to graduate.

Montana professor finds racially-charged flyer on African-American studies program board

A flier for his course – “White Supremacy History/Defeat” – was changed to read: “Black Nationalism History/Defeat.”

Yale professor redesigns syllabus after campus protests

African American Studies professor Matthew Jacobson says the chants of the students offered a perfect structure for his class on “Politics and Culture of the American ‘Color Line.’ "

Prolific author, Northwestern professor Jan Carew dies at 92

Northwestern University issued the following obituary of former professor Jan Carew, who died Dec. 6:Jan Carew, professor emeritus of African American studies at Northwestern University, died Dec. 6 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was 92.Professor of African American Studies from 1973 to 1987, Carew was described as the “quintessential Renaissance Man – an author, historian, internationalist, public intellectual, social justice activist and pioneer in experimenting with sustainable lifestyles for people of color.”Darlene Clark Hine, Board of Trustees Professor of African American studies and professor of history at Northwestern, said Carew was an important leader of Black studies....