At South County High School in Lorton, Virginia, students inside one classroom were hard at work Monday recreating sculptures like the ones you would see in ancient West Africa.
"You have step shows, you have a lot of things that have cultural sensibilities," teacher Sean Miller says to the class.
Students are also learning about Black Joy and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It’s all part of the curriculum for the new AP African American Studies pilot class.
"My goal is to give them a holistic history, as much information as possible, and then, hopefully, they’ll take that information and make the world a better place," said Miller, who is teaching the course at South County High School.
"I felt like there was a gap in my knowledge about African history, so I thought this class would be a great way to, like, deepen my knowledge," student Sofia Cook said.
The class launched after months of drama surrounding the course nationwide.
In April 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Stop Woke Act,” limiting how racism can be taught in schools.
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Then, in January, the Florida Department of Education banned AP African American Studies, saying it violates state law and “lacks educational value.”
A month later, the College Board, which oversees AP classes, stripped down the curriculum, removing lessons on critical race theory, the queer experience, Black feminism, and Black Lives Matter.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in February asked the state's secretary of education to review the class to see if it violated his ban on “divisive concepts” in school.
The Virginia Department of Education told News4 last month it found no issues with the class.
"I think sometimes the criticism might be because people assume the class is political in nature, but it’s really not. We’ve learned a lot about different things, and we look at it through art, through different documents," South County High School student Eden Fikru said.
"The class at face value, it’s literally, like, a history class, we’re just learning about African history. It’s not about, like, trying to change our mindset about stuff. It’s just about learning new things," Cook said.
"To me, the class is more than just an educational experience, it’s a sharing of culture and what we learn from each other, and we’re all lessons every single day," Miller said.
The College Board says starting next year, all high schools can choose if they want to offer the class, except in Florida, where it’s still banned.
