AP African American Studies Curriculum Includes ‘Pro-slavery’ Text

The Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum championed by many left-wing advocates includes language similar to that which Democrats have seized upon to claim that Florida’s own history curriculum is “pro-slavery.”

As Breitbart News reported, Vice President Kamala Harris led the attack against Florida’s new curriculum, which includes the line: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

The White House followed suit, claiming that “extreme officials in Florida” were trying to teach children that “enslaved people actually benefited from slavery.”

But the curriculum itself highlighted the “harsh conditions” of slavery, along with the “service and sacrifice of African patriots during the Revolutionary Era.” And a black scholar who worked on the curriculum called Harris’s attack “categorically false.”

Now, it emerges that the AP curriculum — which activists pushed Florida to adopt — includes similar language:

The AP African American Studies course that the entire establishment media wanted Florida to adopt says the exact same thing the new Florida standards say. https://t.co/sZcnOKhkVx pic.twitter.com/vGOGbdwSgJ

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) July 27, 2023

The AP curriculum states, in part: “In addition to agricultural work, enslaved people learned specialized trades and worked as painters, carpenters, tailors, musicians, and healers in the North and South. Once free, American Americans used these skills to provide for themselves and others.” The point, in both cases, appears to be to highlight the agency and determination of black Americans to succeed even in the worst circumstances.

Earlier this year, Florida rejected the AP curriculum because it violated state law that bars the teaching of Critical Race Theory. That rejection, and other criticism, led the College Board to revise the curriculum.

At the time, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, slammed Gov. Ron Desantis (R) for the decision, calling it “incomprehensible” and accusing him of racism, noting that he had not banned AP European History.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.