Arkansas Cancels AP African-American History Course ahead of Fall Semester

By Caroline Downey, National Review

The Arkansas department of Education cancelled a new Advanced Placement African-American history course on Friday, a few days before the fall semester, notifying teachers that it would not be recognized for full course credit for the 2023-2024 year.

An official from the department phoned high-school teachers to share the news, the Arkansas Times reported. The state will no longer cover the $90 testing cost for students who complete the course through teachers who still choose to offer it despite the decision. An email was sent Saturday to district curriculum administrators informing them the class was removed from the state’s roster of offerings.

Upon taking office in January, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders banned critical race theory in K–12 public schools via executive order. The order directs the secretary of the state’s Department of Education to review rules, policies, and regulations that could “indoctrinate students with ideologies, such as CRT, that conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law or encourage students to discriminate against someone based on characteristics protected by federal or state law.”

The department confirmed that the administration believes the course, created by the College Board, potentially violates state law for certain material, although it did not specify further. The College Board’s AP African-American-studies course was conceived following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Read more about Arkansas’ decision in the original article.

Learn about African-American history on your own terms: Explore this virtual exhibit to learn about the Middle Passage, which forcibly brought the first Africans to the American colonies.

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