A Maryland School Board has officially rejected an amended AP African American Studies course that was scheduled to launch in classrooms during the fall school year.
The attack on Black history continues after a Maryland school board voted against an African American Studies course, citing it as too “divisive.”
An Advanced Placement African American Studies course piloted at three Harford County Public Schools in Maryland is no more after it was rejected in a 5-4 vote during a school board meeting last week. Designed by a national nonprofit, the College Board, the class will still become widely available for students across other districts in the state for the first time.
According to a board member who voted against the AP course, “the topics are heavily politically oriented and perpetuate the message of oppressed versus oppressor.” Moreover, Terri Kocher, who did not favor the class, says that she does think it “should be taught, but not in a way that teaches ‘victimhood.’”
To curate the AP African American Studies course, the College Board leaned into a network of college faculty, high school teachers, and experts who used data from 100 college syllabi and feedback from hundreds of faculty. The course framework, scheduled to be released this fall, gives teachers the power to craft their own lessons tailored to the needs of the students in their classrooms. Additionally, they are allowed to select topics for their own projects.
According to the Harford County Public School System, 67 students have already taken the course, and nearly 100 more have registered for the fall class. Superintendent Sean Bulson says he is “deeply saddened” by the board’s vote and that the AP African American Studies course “would have provided a more authentic portrayal of American history.”
More than 75% of the students in the course were students of color. A U.S. News report discloses that the student body at Harford County Public Schools comprises 59.7% white students, 20.5% Black students, 3.3% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander students, and 8.6% Hispanic or LatinX students.
For Bulson, the AP African American Studies class showcased Harford School System’s “commitment to providing an education that reflects the diversity of our student body and community. When we remain true to that commitment, it is unifying, not divisive.”
Edgewood High School rising senior Teaja Adams also expressed her disdain for the school board calling the course “divisive.”
“To say out loud that this class, my one opportunity to learn about me, that is divisive. How dare you take away my ability to choose,” wrote Adams in a statement.
As the great-granddaughter of Black people who served in the Black Panther Party and the U.S. Army’s first African American female battalion in World War II, Adams was eager to uncover history often left out of the history books of the classrooms she’s matriculated through over the years.
The updated version of the AP African American Studies course “includes African American achievements in music, film, and sports.” Students can discover works by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois, and poet Maya Angelou. Additional coursework allows them to “analyze constitutional amendments addressing slavery, citizenship, and the right to vote.”
Harford is the most recent school district to be concerned with the AP course, an elective that includes an exam that can be submitted for college credit. An earlier version of the course was also rejected in Florida.
When the controversial Supreme Court decision on affirmative action was released in 2023, it emboldened states like Florida the opportunity to restrict the ways race, gender identity, and sexuality are taught in classrooms. In Florida, there are restrictions around teaching race, gender identity, and sexuality.
During the second year of the AP African American Studies course, it was taught in 700 U.S. schools, with 31 in Maryland. The recent Harford County School Board vote was the third attempt to approve the course after it was tabled in May and early June.
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