High school senior Kahlila Bandele is used to courses that don’t address the African American experience. Then there’s her 9 a.m. class. This week, it spanned topics from Afro-Caribbean migration to jazz.
The discussion in her Advanced Placement course on African American studies touched on figures from Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X to Jimi Hendrix and Rihanna. In her AP European History course, she said, “we’re not discussing Black people at all” — even though they were colonized by Europeans.
Her school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is one of 60 schools around the country testing the new course, which has gained national attention since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened to ban it in his state. The rejection has stirred new political debate over how schools teach about race.
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