School leaders at a St. Louis school district recently decided to reverse a vote to end elective Black history classes from being taught in institutions.
Announced late last Thursday, the Francis Howell School District, led by a conservative-led, all-white board, said that they will bring back the courses on Black history after approving a new curriculum.
The updated curriculum will be “rigorous and largely politically neutral,” according to the district’s board president and superintendent as per a statement.
The latest announcement that the courses will return with restrictions comes a week after the board voted 5-2 to stop offering the Black History and Black Literature courses they began giving to approximately 100 students in 2021.
Previously, the curriculum was developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to Board Vice President Randy Cook Jr., they voted to remove the courses because activism and social justice were incorporated into the classes.
Several protests from parents and students erupted, specifically during the board meetings. A petition was also started that gained over 3,000 signatures.
With the recent update on the courses, leaders are continuing to express their concerns on what the newest course will look like.
“Black History and Black Literature cannot be taught from a ‘politically-neutral’ perspective because our entire experience in America has been impacted by socio-political movements,” said the founder of the Missouri Equity Education Partnership, Heather Fleming, in a Facebook post.
Throughout this year, education on Black history has repeatedly been attacked, particularly in states such as Florida.
Earlier this year, the Florida government banned AP African American history courses from school curriculums. According to state officials, they claimed that the class places a “political agenda” on the students. The state officials particularly had an issue with students learning about reparations and Black Lives Matter.
The rejection of the course received public outcry with three Florida high schoolers announcing that they’ll be suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“By rejecting the African American history pilot program, Ron DeSantis has clearly demonstrated that he wants to dictate whose history does — and doesn’t — belong,” said Democratic state Rep. Fentrice Driskell at a news conference for the lawsuit per NPR.
The banning of the AP African American History course is part of a national spread of censorship in the U.S. with Republicans targeting topics such as books and critical race theory.
According to NPR, in the past three years, 137 bills have been passed by 35 states to limit what schools can discuss regarding race, politics, American history and sexual orientation.
With the latest attack on the AP African American History class, the College Board, known as the creators of the course, have conceded to right-wing demands, releasing another re-worked version of the class three weeks ago.
With the course updates, topics on the Black queer experience have been removed while topics such as reparations and Black Lives Matter were included as optional studies after the coursework is covered.
