Outrage has been sparked across the nation as Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis blocked an AP African American History class, which he describes as “pushing a political agenda.” 

College Board’s Advanced Placement African American History is a new course being piloted in 60 high schools across the country. This class is offered through College Board as an “interdisciplinary course that will reach into a variety of fields,” according to their official website.

 There are 102 total topics affiliated with the African American History class such as literature, political science, arts and humanities, geography, and science in the course. 

But the Florida Department of Education issued a statement saying this course is  “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”   Topics like “queer theory”, “intersectionality”, and “abolishing prisons” were the main topics of concern for Florida’s DOE and Governor Ron DeSantis.  

College Board revised their curriculum on the first of February, taking out writers linked to critical race theory, queer subject matter and feminism. It also removed Black Lives Matter from the curriculum, while adding “Black conservatism.”

Because of one man, high school students of all backgrounds will be robbed of an opportunity to learn the whole truth about the history of Blacks in the United States. 

Being taught about slavery, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King isn’t enough. We need to know who our African Americans pioneers are in fields like science, technology, engineering and math, or in the Arts and Cinema, as well as tackling the issue of gender equality in the black community. 

Knowing who the leaders in equality are is great, but they aren’t the only black change makers. That’s what Ron DeSantis, and the American schools nationwide, need to understand. The world is evolving everyday, why not the classroom? Courses like these will be a stepping stone in democracy as we can look and see how America evolved from the Little Rock Nine in 1957 to have African American History in our state’s curriculums. 

Instead of acting on one man’s bias, the College Board needs to realize they have created this Advanced Placement class for intelligent and mature high school Junior and Seniors. This course is supposed to discuss topics with Critical race theory, gender identity, and Blacks Lives matter to burgeon the mind of young men and women across the nation.