The education group behind a controversial AP African American Studies course is slamming the New York Times for suggesting that politics was involved in the decision to remove topics like Black Lives Matter, Queer Theory and slavery reparations from the course.
The pilot course being tested in 60 schools around the country was initially rejected by Florida's Education Department for violating the state's "Stop W.O.K.E. Act," and faced criticism from Gov. Ron DeSantis as well about its content.
"This course on Black history, what’s one of the lessons about? Queer theory. Now, who would say that an important part of Black history is queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda," he asserted earlier this month.
However, The College Board disputed the narrative that political pressure forced them to remove some of the fraught topics. On Wednesday, they called out The New York Times specifically for reporting "inaccuracies" on what the course now includes and why the changes were made.
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"Today’s New York Times piece about the official AP African American Studies framework is a gross misrepresentation of the content of the course and the process by which it was developed. The Times reporting is rife with inaccuracies," The College Board responded.
The post went on to argue Black feminism and LGBT figures were not removed from the curriculum, as the Times had suggested.
"Despite their claim that Black feminism is ‘purged’ from the course, the facts are that the course framework explicitly includes this material as required content," The College Board said, providing an image of a lesson from one text asking students about Black feminist and Black lesbian influence in the Civil Rights movement.
Listing other LGBT figures highlighted in the course, they added, "The Times reports that gay experience is not in the course, but deliberately ignores that several explicit references to gay Black Americans were included."
The College Board also objected to the media outlet suggesting "heavy criticism from Gov. Ron DeSantis" led to the text changes.
"The Times argues the revisions were made in response to Florida, despite the fact that the College Board has time-stamped records of revisions from December 22, 2022. The article simply ignored that the core revisions were substantially complete – including the removal of all secondary sources – by December 22, weeks before Florida’s objections were shared."
They insisted, "The fact of the matter is that this landmark course has been shaped over years by the most eminent scholars in the field, not political influence."
Dr. Kerry Haynie, a member of the development committee for the course and Professor of African American Studies at Duke University, doubled down on this statement, calling the report "wildly misleading."
"It’s wildly misleading, at best. We reject any claim that our work either indoctrinates students or, on the other hand, has bowed to political pressure," The College Board reported.
Despite the academic organization's objections, their decision sparked outrage from progressives and cheers from conservatives, with both sides seeing the move as a victory for conservatives in the culture war over education.
