Hi,

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is continuing his all out attack on public education. Desantis recently blocked the College Board from testing a pilot of the Advanced Placement African American Studies curriculum in Florida, claiming the program “lacked educational value.”1

Other states have been pushing for similar bans on African American history, in a right-wing panic over education about race and identity in America. The truth is, all of these efforts are an attempt to block any and all education about institutional racism in America and the racist history of our country. The federal government must step in to protect and fund African American studies now.

Sign the petition to Congress: Push back against state attempts to ban Black history. Pass the African American History Act.

In 2021, Rep. Jamaal Bowman introduced the African American History Act, a bill that would fund African American history education programs and increase the national capacity for African American history education by developing and disseminating high-quality pedagogy related to teaching African American history.2

As long as Republican lawmakers like DeSantis can stop schools from teaching important parts of our history, including African American history and LGBTQ+ history, at the state level, public education is under grave threat. And so are the communities DeSantis and others are targeting with these discriminatory bans.

Congress can take action to fund African American history programs, but only if we put the pressure on.

Tell Congress: step in and protect African American history.

Thanks for taking action,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress

Sources:

  1. Rolling Stone, “Florida Says AP African American Studies Program 'Lacks Educational Value,'” January 18, 2023.
  2. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, “News: Rep. Bowman Introduces African American History Act, Urges Nation to Tell the Truth About Its Past,” December 14, 2021.

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