Georgia’s state superintendent won’t approve AP African American Studies, says it breaks the law

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Any Georgia high school student who takes AP African American Studies may or may not receive college credit for it.

Georgia’s State Superintendent Richard Woods said he’s not approving the course in schools because it breaks the law.

He said there’s a concept in the framework that violates the state Divisive Concept Law.

Rashad Brown teaches the course for Atlanta Public Schools and says he disagrees.

“If that logic is going to be applied, it’s going to be difficult to teach any type of history,” said Brown.

The framework for the course was developed by the college board.

Woods said the topic of Intersectionality violates the Georgia Divisive Concepts Law passed in 2022.

The law forbids concepts in classrooms that suggest one race is inherently superior, that the U.S. is racist, or that people should feel uncomfortable because of their race.

In the framework, Intersectionality is described as “a framework for understanding the distinct experiences of Black women through the interactions of their social, economic, and political identities with systems of inequality and privilege.”

In his statement, Woods said, “For me, this has always been about following the law. If I moved this forward for approval, I would break my oath of office and ask the State Board of Education and our local school districts to ignore the law.”

“I think it is part of a broader strategy to kind of undermine our diversity and to erase black history,” said State Sen. Nikki Merritt/D-Grayson.

When Governor Kemp signed the Divisive Concepts Law 2022, he said it was to make sure history is taught accurately.

“Our classrooms will not be pawns of those who want to indoctrinate our kids with their partisan political agenda,” said Kemp.

“One thing about students, oftentimes they can, they can be very inspired and motivated when you tell them no,” said Brown.