NYC Schools Open with a New Curriculum on Black Studies

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Beginning with the 2024–2025 academic year, New York City schools will implement a new Black Studies curriculum. Depending on the school level, the
online Black Studies as the Study of the World curriculum covers subjects that include Adinkra symbols, Black enclaves in New York, the Haitian Revolution along with other liberation battles, and the reparations movement.

The Education Equity Action Plan, a three-year project supported by the New York City Council, produced the instructional materials.

In its scoring review, the New York University Metro Center wrote, "It is rare that we review a curriculum that is so intentionally rooted in the creation of position and affirming stories and narratives for historically marginalized groups."

The decision to broaden the curriculum in NYC public schools coincides with the Republican-led states to impose restrictions on education and literature about the Black experience and history.

It also aligns with a historic endeavor led by New York's recently established reparations commission to document and make amends for decades of state-sanctioned injuries to Black communities.

"We're in the midst of a struggle over the minds of our children and how we choose to socialize them into American society," Sonya Douglass, professor of Education Leadership at Columbia University's Teachers College, told ABC News."So I see all of this is very much connected in terms of some states who want to limit the teaching of the truth, and others that want to create a more accurate and expansive accounting of our history and contribution."

During the 2023–2024 academic year, 120 schools participated in a curriculum trial program using these materials.