Detroit Evening Report: African American AP course to be taught in 20 Michigan high schools

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Education officials announced 20 Michigan high schools are introducing the new Advanced Placement African American studies course.


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The College Board selected the schools to be part of the pilot program to start this fall. The course has been in development for years.

The AP program has recently been the subject of controversy in states like Florida due to Gov. Ron DeSantis not agreeing with the subject matter.

There has been little pushback of the course in Michigan according to Bridge Michigan. In fact, educators interviewed by Bridge said their student are hungry for the course.

Topics covered include early African kingdoms and the trans-Atlantic slave trade through slavery, Reconstruction, The Great Migration, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, as well as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

The course removed some topics due to criticism, mainly from conservatives, like the Black Lives Matter movement, slavery reparations and queer theory. Schools do have the option of suggesting those topics for end-of-year projects.

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Author

  • Hernz Laguerre
    Hernz Laguerre Jr. is a Multimedia Journalist at 101.9 WDET. He is one of the co-host for "Detroit Evening Report," one of the weekend anchors for "Weekend Edition," the producer for our political podcast, "MichMash," and reports on arts, culture and politics.