About the Course
AP African American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that examines the diversity of African American experiences through direct encounters with authentic and varied sources. Students explore key topics that extend from early African kingdoms to the ongoing challenges and achievements of the contemporary moment. Given the interdisciplinary character of African American studies, students in the course will develop skills across multiple fields, with an emphasis on developing historical, literary, visual, and data analysis skills. This course foregrounds a study of the diversity of Black communities in the United States within the broader context of Africa and the African diaspora.
Summer 2025 dates and information will be announced January 2025.
- Apply lenses from multiple disciplines to evaluate key concepts, historical developments, and processes that have shaped Black experiences and debates within the field of African American studies.
- Identify connections between Black communities in the United States and the broader African diaspora in the past and present.
- Compare and analyze a range of perspectives about the movements, approaches, organizations, and key figures involved in freedom movements, as expressed in text based, data, and visual sources.
- Demonstrate understanding of the diversity and complexity of African societies and their global connections before the emergence of transatlantic slavery.
- Evaluate the political, historical, aesthetic, and transnational contexts of major social movements.
- Develop a broad understanding of the many strategies African American communities have employed to represent themselves authentically, promote advancement, and combat the effects of inequality.
- Identify major themes that inform literary and artistic traditions of the African diaspora.