College Board shut out academics on AP African American Studies changes, emails reveal

Professors Complain About Changes to AP African American Studies Course

A group of professors involved with developing the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American Studies course reportedly complained internally that the College Board was forcing changes to the curriculum and bowing to political pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

The members of the AP course development committee include University of Kansas history professor Nishani Frazier and University of Connecticut sociology professor David Embrick, both of whom complained internally that the College Board was forcing changes to the AP African American Studies course that were not requested by professors, teachers, or students, according to internal emails published by the Wall Street Journal.

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“I have patiently and quietly watched the ubiquitous interviews and media assertions that AP would not make changes at the behest of any group beyond professors, teachers, and students,” Frazier wrote in an email. “If this is so, which student, professor, or teacher suggested adding black conservatives to the course over Combahee River Collective?”

The emails indicate an internal tension over the course’s contents as the College Board was publicly feuding with DeSantis after the Florida Department of Education blocked the course from being piloted in the state over concerns that it ran afoul of state laws prohibiting the teaching of concepts derived from critical race theory.

• Officials in the Florida government pointed out that the course included lesson plans on topics such as:
• “Black Queer Studies”
• “‘Postracial’ Racism and Colorblindness”
• Support for Slavery Reparations
• “Afrofuturism” (including the Marvel Studios film Black Panther)

The College Board defended the course, saying the pilot framework did not constitute the final version, as it was still being developed. The organization then released a new framework for the course in February that did not contain several of the topics that the DeSantis administration had expressed concerns about.

The finalized version of the course was immediately met with criticism from liberal organizations and black advocacy groups who accused the College Board of caving to DeSantis and allowing the Florida Department of Education to dictate the content of the course so that it would be taught in the state.

In another email reported by the Wall Street Journal, Frazier complained that the course now did not teach about “queerness” and other more controversial topics.

On Monday, the College Board announced that it would again be revising the course.

“The updated framework, shaped by the development committee and subject matter experts from AP, will ensure that those students who do take this course will get the most holistic possible introduction to African American Studies,” the College Board said.

In its reporting on the development committee emails, the Wall Street Journal editorial board accused the College Board of trying to “front-run” its report on the emails by announcing another wave of revisions.

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Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Washington Examiner that the complaints made by Frazier indicated that advocates for critical race theory and similar concepts do not have room for “compromise.”

“They’re not looking for a way to provide a curriculum that is providing a course of study that is well rounded and nuanced about American history in the way in which racial issues and slavery [are] represented,” Butcher said. “They only want it told through one perspective, and that is the Marxist perspective of power struggles. They’re not interested in having a debate or even for students to have to wrestle with the ideas. They want students to be told that there are irredeemable problems, unfixable problems with the American experiment.”