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Read/listen Mahtem Shiferraw's poem. What do you think she means by "Nomenclatures of Invisibility"? Respond in comments section below.

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This is not how it begins
but how you understand it.

I walk many kilometers and
find myself to be the same-

the same moon hovering over
the same, bleached sky,

and when the officer calls me
it is a name I do not recognize,
a self I do not recognize.

We are asked to kneel, or
stand still, depending on which land
we embroider our feet with-

this one is copious with black blood
or so I am told.

Someone calls me by the skin
I did not know I had
and to this I think-language,

there must be a language
that contains us all
that contains all of this.

How to disassemble
the sorrow of beginnings,

how to let go, and not,
how to crouch beneath other bodies
how to stop breathing, hownot to. Our fathers are not elders here; they are long-bearded men shoving taxi cabs and sprawled in small valet parking lots- at their sight, my body dims its light (a desiccated grape) and murmur,Igziabher Yistilign- our pride, raw-purple again. We begin like this: all of us walking in solitude walking a desert earth and unforgiving bodies. We cross lines we dare not speak of; we learn and unlearn things quickly, or intentionally slow (because, that, we can control) and give ourselves new names because these selves must be new to forget the old blue. But, sometimes, we also begin like this: on a cold, cold night memorizing escape routes kissing the foreheads of small children hidingaccat in our pockets, a rosary for safekeeping. Or, married off to men thirty years our elders big house, big job, big, striking hands. Or, thinking of the mouths to feed. At times we begin in silence; water making its way into our bodies- rain, or tears, or black and red seas until we are ripe with longing.

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This is not how it begins but how you understand it. I walk many kilometers and find myself to be the same- the same moon hovering over the same, bleached sky, and when the officer calls me it is a name I do not recognize, a self I do not recognize.

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Watch the video (starting at the 18:24 mark). Write a brief response (2-3 sentences) to Dr. King's talk. What do you think about his assertions? Do you agree? Disagree? Why?

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Blackademics TV
Season 5 Episode 5 | 27m 51s |

An Educational Anthropologist on Afro-Brazilian's Education Activism; An Obama White House staffer talks about career advancement with Allies, Advocates and Investors; A Curriculum Expert on Rethinking the role of Black History in American Schools. Talks by Rolf Straubhaar, Tequia Hicks Delgado and LaGarrett King.

Aired: 06/25/17

Rating: NR

Problems Playing Video? Report a Problem |

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Blackademics TV | Straubhaar / Delgado / King | Season 5 | Episode 5 | PBS

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Blackademics TV Season 5 Episode 5 | 27m 51s | An Educational Anthropologist on Afro-Brazilian's Education Activism; An Obama White House staffer talks about career advancement with Allies, Advocates and Investors; A Curriculum Expert on Rethinking the role of Black History in American Schools. Talks by Rolf Straubhaar, Tequia Hicks Delgado and LaGarrett King.

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Read Christian's introduction to his book This Fleeting World. What type of historical narrative is he suggesting?

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Review these slides from an earlier presentation on historical narratives. Recalling these concepts, does your characterization of Christian change? Explain in the comments section below.

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Watch the video on Jean-Francois Lyotard's response to grand narratives (i.e. metanarratives).

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Video Lecture #5 Comments are not allowed on video lectures. If you have questions, email Dr. Gilroy or post a question on the Canvas Q&A Discussion Board.

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Watch this video on Lyotard's challenge to the metanarrative (master narrative). Write a brief response in the comments section below.

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UNBOXED: Lyotard, Postmodernism & the Metanarrative

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Fiction versus nonfiction - Lois Beardslee

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Fiction versus nonfiction - Lois Beardslee

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Read the poem "Fiction versus nonfiction." Select what you think is the most important line from the poem and cut-and-paste it in the comments section below.

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Poem: Fiction Versus Nonfiction (Published 2020)

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Lois Beardslee’s poetry examines myths and mysteries, contemplating traditional stereotypes around indigenous communities, in a matter-of-fact and personal tone.

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"A Dead Man's Dream" - Carl Wendell Hines Jr.

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"A Dead Man's Dream" - Carl Wendell Hines Jr.

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What do you think is the primary message of this poem? Write a response in the comments section below.

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Read/watch the following articles. After you have completed the set write a brief (2-3 sentences) response that captures your takeaways (in the last post of this section).

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"A brief history of curriculum censorship" - Halterman

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"A brief history of curriculum censorship" - Halterman

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A Brief History of Curriculum Censorship

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Book bans and other restrictions on what gets taught are making headlines. But they aren’t new. Read this for more background on how we got to this moment.

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"How AP African American studies came under attack: A timeline" - Najarro

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"How AP African American studies came under attack: A timeline" - Najarro

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Most recently, in a letter to the College Board dated Feb. 7, the Florida department of education's office of articulation-which facilitates the progression and transfer of students through grades K-20-said it will review the "complete and official resubmission of the course for FDOE's official consideration for the 2023-2024 school year," while also outlining its own timeline of correspondence with the College Board about the new course beginning in 2022.

Here's a timeline of how the course came to be, correspondence between Florida and College Board officials throughout the process, and what comes next for the new AP course.

2007

2010

Due to interest from College Board's AP program team members and some high schools, the College Board began to survey colleges, asking whether they would support providing college credit for an AP course and exam in African American history, according to the organization.

"Colleges were generally unwilling to consider the possibility at that point in time, typically just indicating that they'd prefer to offer the introductory coursework themselves on their own campuses," it added.

Summer 2020

Fall 2020

In a regular AP program meeting, "staff suggested that perhaps colleges would now be more supportive of such a program," the College Board said, referring to a course around the discipline of African American Studies.

College Board staff formed two volunteer working groups to do outreach of interest at colleges and universities; and with school principals, high school teachers, and students.

April 2021-December 2021

The College Board went through a research phase for what was to become their 40th course in the AP program. During this time, the organization contracted a development committee of 24 professors and teachers, and the drafting of the framework began.

Work in these months included: "collection of syllabi from Introductory African American Studies courses at prominent departments of African American Studies nationwide, including 11 HBCUs, all 8 Ivy League Institutions, and 20 public flagships." Out of this came a "Feb 2022 Framework Preview" document.

June 10, 2021

The Florida state board of education, at the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis, approved a rule banning the instruction of the academic concept of critical race theory and the New York Times' 1619 Project in K-12 schools.

January 2022-June 2022

The College Board said that throughout 2022, it provided "states and departments of education across the country with the information they request[ed] for inclusion of courses within their systems."

Florida's department of education's office of articulation said it exchanged emails with College Board between January and June "seeking to add AP African American Studies to the credit by exam list and the course code directory." State officials said they got feedback from faculty at institutions of higher education in May and June on what postsecondary courses could be equivalent to passing the AP exam if the course were approved.

March 4-6, 2022

As with other course developments, the College Board held a faculty symposium in Washington, D.C., "to gather input on what topics should be in the AP course," the organization said. College faculty were invited from African American Studies departments nationwide, and approximately 200 attended, the largest turnout ever for an AP Faculty Symposium.

Attendees received the "Feb 2022 Framework Preview" document, which contained both a draft of the first unit of the course on African Kingdoms and a high-level outline of what the rest of the course might include. (The College Board said in February 2023 that "the 'Feb 2022 Framework Preview' is the document that was posted on the Florida Standard and inaccurately labeled as the pilot course curriculum and was the source of inaccurate reporting thereafter about the 'Fall 2022 Pilot Course Framework' itself".)

From this March convening, faculty recommended cutting 20-25 percent of the topics and up to 50 percent of the readings in order to align with colleges' own scope of content, which is normal for new AP courses, the College Board said.

It added that there was, however, no agreement on which topics and readings should be included and which should not.

April 22, 2022

Gov. DeSantis in Florida signed House Bill 7 into law which restricts how topics of race could be taught or discussed in K-12 schools.

April 29, 2022

By this date, the "Fall 2022 Pilot Course Framework" was "completed and locked, as planned in time to be designed and printed for training of the pilot teachers at Howard University" the College Board said.

The document, "Fall 2022 Pilot Course Framework" is different from the "Feb 2022 Framework Preview," the organization said and it still didn't cut down on the number of topics or readings indicated as necessary back in the March symposium.

To make decisions on what would be removed, and to make changes in time to complete the full course framework by the end of 2022, the College Board planned to use data from pilot schools' pacing of Unit 1 in August through October 2022. The organization said this move is standard operating procedure.

The AP Program staff also began requesting permission to post scholarly articles and contemporary works to serve as resources for the course in the AP Classroom digital library.

May 2022-December 2022

The course's development committee repeatedly met and deliberated over feedback from the March symposium and from regular review cycles from experts including Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, professor of History and of African and African American Studies, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, both at Harvard University, the College Board said.

July 1, 2022

Florida's House Bill 7 restricting how topics of race could be taught or discussed in K-12 schools took effect.

The Florida department of education said it sent an email on this same day to the College Board asking how the AP African American Studies course complied with HB 7, the state board of education rule, and state statute which requires instruction on the history of African Americans but that "classroom instruction and curriculum may not be used to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view inconsistent with the principles" listed in the statute or state academic standards.

In its letter, the state added: "The preview materials appear to include content that may not be permissible. In order for the review to continue, we need information from College Board that demonstrates teaching the content would not require teachers to be out of compliance with Florida law."

July 5, 2022

Florida officials said that the College Board acknowledged in an email their concerns and the organization requested to respond in writing.

July 11-14, 2022

The AP Summer Institute for African American Studies, a professional-development workshop for teachers who would pilot the course in the 2022-23 school year, took place at Howard University in Washington.

July 21, 2022

Florida officials said the state's office of articulation and bureau of standards and instructional support staff met with the College Board to learn more about the new AP course. They reiterated to the College Board how the course must comply with the state board of education rule, state statute, and the new law on the books.

Florida officials said that the following day, July 22, a senior College Board director allegedly "responded (inaccurately) in writing how the course did not conflict with Florida law."

July 25, 2022

Florida education officials said they began an official course review of the new AP course. The state said that the College Board asked for updates on the review on Aug. 8.

Fall 2022

About 60 schools across the country kicked off pilot courses in AP African American Studies.

While students in these pilot courses are set to take a pilot exam at the end of the school year, they would not score for college credit as a regular AP class.

Sept. 23, 2022

Florida's office of articulation said it sent a memo to the College Board stating "the AP African American Studies course could not be added to the course code directory without revisions" and that the College Board would have to ensure it met requirements in state statute and its board of education rule.

The College Board said in a Feb. 9 public letter that they never received written feedback from Florida officials specifying how the course violates state law, despite repeated requests. It said "on three occasions beginning in September 2022, we requested from FDOE specific information about why the pilot course was deemed out of compliance with Florida law. We received a commitment that such feedback would be provided, but it never was."

Nov. 16, 2022

Florida officials said they met with College Board representatives to discuss concerns with the course. They said staff from the bureau of standards and instructional support indicated that sections of the course may violate Florida law and state board of education rules, sharing state statutes and rules.

They added that College Board also "acknowledged that the course would undergo revisions; however, College Board stated that items such as 'systemic marginalization' and 'intersectionality' were integral elements of the course and could not be removed."

Florida officials said they asked what revisions would be made and that "College Board was not specific in their response since they indicated that the course writing team was not on the call" at which point state staffers said they would need to see the final revised course prior to approving it.

Dec. 7, 2022

Florida department of education staff including from the office of articulation met with the College Board as the organization "had questions about the AP African American Studies approval process again," the state said.

Florida officials reiterated their stance on ensuring the course met requirements of the new state law and the board of education rule.

They also said that the "College Board had questions about what credit students would receive in the pilot program. FDOE staff reminded College Board that the course was not approved and that students in Florida would receive credit for the corresponding course in which they were enrolled."

College Board has since said: "Per our standard operating procedure, during the first year of piloting, there is no official AP Exam administered and scored for college credit. This information was provided to potential pilot schools to inform their decision whether to participate."

Dec. 22, 2022

Halfway through pilot courses, the final course framework for AP African American Studies was set.

"In order to produce an operational AP Exam for college credit for the second year of piloting, any changes to the framework must be complete by the end of the calendar year, so that test development, psychometric, and teacher training can be developed and delivered for the upcoming academic year," the College Board said. "This is standard operating procedure, consistent across AP course and exam development schedules."

Jan. 12, 2023

The Florida department of education sent a letter to the College Board "indicating that the course could not be approved as written" effectively banning the course.

The letter added that: "The content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law, and significantly lacks educational value. In the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to open the discussion."

Jan. 20, 2023

The College Board has since responded to state officials saying: "The first and only written feedback we have received was through a tweet from Commissioner Diaz posted on January 20, 2023. Four of the six course elements criticized in that tweet were in fact not present in the actual pilot framework we provided you in July 2022, including readings by Angela Davis and bell hooks, and references to Leslie Kay Jones and Roderick Ferguson. The tweet also objected to 'Black Queer Studies,' though no such topic appears in the July 2022 pilot course framework."

Jan. 26, 2023

In a letter to its members, College Board said "No states or districts have seen the official framework that will be released on February 1, much less provided feedback on it."

Feb. 1, 2023

The College Board published its final course framework on the first day of Black History Month.

Ensuing coverage and online discourse focused on how scholars and topics previously called out by Florida officials were now absent. The College Board posted a statement reiterating that edits predated commentary out of Florida, and that no secondary sources-most of the scholars and topics in question-ever make it to final course frameworks as the organization focuses more on primary sources.

When asked why they included any secondary sources in earlier drafts of the course framework, if no AP course requires them, the organization said:

"There are a number of reasons we experimented with mandating specific secondary sources in the pilot." One reason included that the AP Classroom digital library was not yet set up with resources for the course so pilot teachers were given "more guidance and specificity than we typically do" including given specific secondary sources to read throughout the course.

"But we always planned on making such sources available on AP Classroom," it added, and that "No Black authors or scholars were removed from the course; in fact, the opposite."

As of Feb. 1, the organization said it received permission to make available 22 scholarly articles and recent sources in AP Classroom including work by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Maya Angelou and more. Permission acquisition is set to continue through August 2024, the College Board said.

Feb. 7, 2023

In a letter to the College Board detailing their correspondences over AP African American Studies since January 2022, state officials said:

"By no coincidence, we were grateful to see that the College Board's revised February 1, 2023, framework removed 19 topics, many of which FDOE cited as conflicting with Florida law, including discriminatory and historically fictional topics."

State officials also asked to see resources provided in the AP Classroom digital library.

Feb. 9, 2023

The College Board posted a response to Florida officials' Feb.7 letter reiterating that "selection of topics for this course has been guided by feedback from educators, disciplinary experts, and principles that have long shaped AP courses" and that changes were not made at the behest of Florida officials.

"The choice of which topics to remove drew on comparisons of the AP pilot framework to college syllabi and prioritized what is essential for college credit. We also drew on our principles for AP, including a focus on primary documents and places where the historical record is clear," it said.

The organization added that Florida officials were not provided a "preview" of the official framework, but rather that "we briefed FDOE on the content of the framework after it had been shared publicly on the morning of February 1, 2023. No one in the department had seen the official framework before it was finalized and publicly shared."

Feb. 11, 2023

"We have made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy we always accord to an education agency, but they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda," it said.

It also clarified that, at least in part, political limitations in at least 18 states over how teachers can discuss topics of race and racism in K-12 schools was top of mind in developing the course framework as it stands.

"We recognize that in some states teachers and students will be able to draw more widely on Black Studies scholarship than in others," the statement read, "By filling the course with concrete examples of the foundational concepts in this discipline, we have given teachers the flexibility to teach the essential content without putting their livelihoods at risk."

Feb. 13, 2023

When asked for comment on the College Board's Feb. 11 statement, DeSantis said at a news conference that he has already talked with state House Speaker Paul Renner on re-evaluating the state's long term relationship with the College Board's AP and SAT programs.

"Nobody elected [College Board] to anything, they're just kind of there and they provide a service. And so you can either utilize those services or not," DeSantis said. "And so they've provided these AP courses for a long time. But you know they're probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good or maybe even a lot better."

"Of course our universities can or can't accept College Board courses for credit, and maybe they'll do others, and then also just whether our universities do the SATs versus the ACT, I think they do both, but we're going to evaluate kind of how all that process goes."

Summer 2023

Howard University will be one of three locations for the 2023 summer professional development workshop for teachers who will teach AP African American Studies in the 2023-24 school year.

Fall 2023

A second round of pilot courses is planned for the 2023-24 school year. About 650 high schools have applied to pilot the course for the second round, the organization said in February 2023.

Fall 2024

The College Board plans to make the course available to any interested school worldwide for the 2024-25 school year.

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How AP African American Studies Came Under Attack: A Timeline

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Most recently, in a letter to the College Board dated Feb. 7, the Florida department of education's office of articulation-which facilitates the progression and transfer of students through grades K-20-said it will review the "complete and official resubmission of the course for FDOE's official consideration for the 2023-2024 school year," while also outlining its own timeline of correspondence with the College Board about the new course beginning in 2022.

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"The College Board's race problem" - Anderson

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"The College Board's race problem" - Anderson

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There’s no mention of the racial wealth gap in AP Economics, and AP Environmental Science glosses over environmental racism, experts say.

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"Why the academic achievement gap is a racist idea" - Kendi

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"Why the academic achievement gap is a racist idea" - Kendi

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"Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black minds and legally exclude their bodies"

This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the academic achievement gap-built and continuously renovated by the 100-year-old standardized testing movement. It is a centennial that hardly anyone knows about.

These days, many people are criticizing the testing movement. Colleges are slowly diminishing the importance of standardized testing in admissions decisions. We are seeing unprecedented numbers of wealthy white parents opting their school children out of these tests.

But few testing critics are bursting its biggest bubble: the existence of the achievement gap itself. To believe in the existence of any sort of racial hierarchy is actually to believe in a racist idea. The achievement gap between the races-with Whites and Asians at the top and Blacks and Latinos at the bottom-is a racial hierarchy. And this popular racial hierarchy has been constructed by our religious faith in standardized testing.

Americans have been led to believe that intelligence is like body weight, and the different intellectual levels of different people can be measured on a single, standardized weight scale. Our faith in standardized tests causes us to believe that the racial gap in test scores means something is wrong with the Black test takers-and not the tests. And the belief that "inferior" Black minds are capable of doing as well as the "superior" White minds does not take away from the racist belief in the existence of the racial hierarchy itself. Let me explain.

In 1869, Charles Darwin's cousin, English statistician Francis Galton, hypothesized in Hereditary Genius that "[t]he average intellectual standard of the negro race is some two grades below our own." Galton pioneered the western eugenics movement, but failed to develop a testing mechanism that verified his racist hypothesis. Where Galton failed, France's Alfred Binet and Thodore Simon thought they succeeded in 1905 when they developed an IQ test that Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman revised for Americans in 1916.

An avowed eugenicist, Terman introduced and defended the viability of the nation's first popular standardized intelligence test in his 1916 book, The Measurement of Intelligence. These "experimental" tests will show "enormously significant racial differences in general intelligence, differences which cannot be wiped out by any scheme of mental culture," Terman maintained. He imagined a permanent academic achievement gap, a permanent racial hierarchy.

Terman's IQ test was first administered on a major scale to 1.7 million U.S. soldiers during World War I. Princeton University psychologist Carl C. Brigham presented the test results as evidence of genetic racial hierarchy in A Study of American Intelligence, published three years before he created the SAT test in 1926.

Famed physicist William Shockley and educational psychologist Arthur Jensen carried these eugenic ideas into the 1960s. But by then, these genetic explanations-not the tests and the achievement gap itself-had largely been discredited. In other words, the construction of a permanent racial hierarchy had been replaced by the construction of a temporary racial hierarchy.

Well-meaning environmentalists had shifted the discourse to disclosing and closing the "achievement gap," a shift that powered the testing movement through The Bell Curve controversy in 1994. "It seems highly likely to us that both genes and the environment have something to do with racial differences" in test scores, wrote Harvard experimental psychologist Richard Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray.

The Bell Curve sparked such an intense academic war in 1995 that the American Psychological Association (APA) convened a Task Force on Intelligence. The APA report rejected all the existing explanations for "the differential between the mean intelligence test scores of Blacks and Whites," from "biases in test construction" to genes, class, and culture. "At this time, no one knows what is responsible for the differential," they concluded.

No one will ever know what doesn't exist. And yet, the racist idea of an "achievement gap" lived on into the new millennium. The testing movement rejoiced over the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act.

Progress has been slow in closing the statistical gap. In 1964, a Department of Education report found that the average Black 12 th grader scored in the 13 percentile, meaning 87 percent of White 12 th graders scored higher on their tests than the average Black 12 th grader. The Nation's Report Card fifty years later found that the average Black 12 th grader scored in the 19 th percentile. And in 2015, Blacks still had the lowest mean SAT scores of any racial group.

At 100-years-young this year, standardized tests have come to literally embody the American doors of opportunity, admitting and barring people from the highest ranked schools, colleges, graduate schools, professions, and jobs. Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black minds and legally exclude their bodies. However, some of the greatest defenders of standardized testing are civil rights leaders, who rely on the testing data in their well-meaning lobbying efforts for greater accountability and resources.

But what if, all along, our well-meaning efforts at closing the achievement gap has been opening the door to racist ideas? What if different environments actually cause different kinds of achievement rather than different levels of achievement? What if the intellect of a poor, low testing Black child in a poor Black school is different-and not inferior -to the intellect of a rich, high-testing White child in a rich White school? What if the way we measure intelligence shows not only our racism but our elitism?

Gathering knowledge of abstract items, from words to equations, that have no relation to our everyday lives has long been the amusement of the leisured elite. Relegating the non-elite to the basement of intellect because they do not know as many abstractions has been the conceit of the elite.

What if we measured literacy by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environment: how much individuals knew all those complex equations and verbal and nonverbal vocabularies of their everyday life?

What if we measured intellect by an individual's desire to know? What if we measured intellect by how open an individual's mind is to self-critique and new ideas?

What if our educational system focused on opening minds instead of filling minds and testing how full they are? What if we realized the best way to standardize a highly effective educational system is not by standardizing our tests but by standardizing our schools to encourage intellectual openness and difference?

But intellectual difference, and multiple literacies, languages, and vocabularies, are only valued in a multi-cultural society that truly values diversity and difference. The testing movement does not value multiculturalism. The testing movement does not value the antiracist equality of difference. The testing movement values the racist hierarchy of difference, and its bastard 100-year-old child: the academic achievement gap.

Ibram X. Kendi is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Florida. His second book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Nation, 2016), was recently named a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Follow him on Twitter @DrIbram.

Copyright © AAIHS. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Why the Academic Achievement Gap is a Racist Idea

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"Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black minds and legally exclude their bodies" This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the academic achievement gap--built and continuously renovated by the 100-year-old standardized test

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Scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw on the new 'segregation' of knowledge

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Write a brief (2-3 sentences) response to what you read/heard. Feel free to highlight points of disagreement, agreement, and uncertainty.

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Testing & Tracking: The Creation of the Modern School

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Testing & Tracking: The Creation of the Modern School

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Deleuze - Control Societies & Cybernetic Posthumanism

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"Angela Davis on the 'Forces of White Supremacy' 

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"Angela Davis on the 'Forces of White Supremacy' 

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Angela Davis: “Forces of White Supremacy” Are Behind Attacks on Teaching Critical Race Theory

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"History of white supremacy in US History textbooks"

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"History of white supremacy in US History textbooks"

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HARVARD STUDY SHOWS LONG HISTORY OF WHITE SUPREMACY IN AMERICAN TEXTBOOKS

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Let's talk about race & racism (In Class Activity)

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Let's talk about race & racism (In Class Activity)

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What is this tool?

This is a picker wheel that spins and picks a random word based on your input. Fun and useful! Let's say you're a teacher and all of your students have to hold a presentation today. Who will go first? You can start at the top of your student list, but then the same students always have to start first, plus you don't always have your student list within reach. The solution: pick a random name. How? With this tool! Simply fill in all of your students and let the wheel decide.

There are more examples in which you could use a wheel:

A challenge with friends and you want to decide who goes first.

Playing a board game with the family. Who starts?

For vacation you'll be traveling. However, there are so many spots you want to visit and you can visit them all. So you have a hard time deciding which one. Letting the wheel pick a random destination will make your vacation even more fun and surprising!

You're living in a dormitory with other students and someone has to clean up the mess. Nobody wants to, of course. No need to decide yourself!

How can I use it?

How to use the wheel should speak for itself, but we've made a quick tutorial.
First, to set up a new wheel:

1. Scroll down to the 'Edit wheel' section.

2. In the text box, you can edit the words or names that are displayed on the wheel. Simply select and remove everything and put your own entries in it. Each entry should be on a new line or separated by a comma.

3. Click on the 'Update' button. When clicking on it, a new name roulette wheel will be generated.

Second, to use it:

1. By now you've set it up. Simply click on the wheel (it doesn't matter where you click) and it will spin.

2. The selected entry will show up on the screen. You can choose to remove it from the wheel by using the 'Remove' button.

3. Whether you removed the picked entry or not, you can spin again by clicking anywhere.

Can I share or save it?

As soon as you add new names, words, places, brands and update the wheel a new share URL will be generated. It will show up in the text field underneath the 'Update' button. Either copy the URL manually or click on the 'Copy wheel' button. You can give this link to your friends, family, teachers, co-workers or use it yourself later on. Just paste the link in your browser can go the URL and we will automatically set up the wheel.

Do you want to save your wheels to your account? Be sure to check out our other spinner wheel!

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With this random picker wheel you can enter various words or names, spin the wheel and let it choose a random value. An easy name selector.

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Extra-optional reading: "The controversy over AP African American studies, explained"

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Extra-optional reading: "The controversy over AP African American studies, explained"

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The controversy over AP African American studies, explained

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The College Board is facing backlash from conservatives who want it to do less — and from left-leaning critics who say it isn’t doing enough.

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Black histories - Biography & Primary Source Activity/Essay (Research analysis section)

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Black histories - Biography & Primary Source Activity/Essay - Stencil Assignment

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Take some time to consider what we covered and learned in this sub-unit. Think about the scholar you explored, along with their primary source. Why do you think the AP decided to remove their contributions from the AP African American Studies curriculum? What is the consequence of this decision? How does this set of assignments/activities speak/connect to the wider unit on African histories?

3 Options for your reflection:
1) Write a paragraph-long response. Be sure to give it a title.
2) Create a found poem from the sources we consulted that attempts to answer the questions above. Be sure to give it a title.
3) Create a piece of art (e.g. drawing) that captures your responses to questions above. Be sure to give it a title.

Remember to submit your creation on Schoology.

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Florida’s past is replete with lessons for building an anti-racist future. We can’t allow them to be purged from our classrooms.

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Carefully read the NC Standards for World History. Create a Google Doc to cut & paste what you think are the important sections of this document. After reading, look over your selected excerpts. Write a brief (2-3 sentences) response that explains your selections.

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What is history? Who gets to decide? When does history start? End? What is included? Who is excluded? Marginalized? Elided? Does history change over time? How does it change?

Briefly (in a couple of sentences) write how you might go about answering these simple and complex questions.

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The primary way you will move through this site is from left to right and top to bottom. The next section you will go to is "The Set Up." In this section, like all the rest, you will start on the left and move to the right. Some of the posts are just meant to be read (sometimes you will need to click on the image to make it larger and legible). Even when you are not prompted to respond, please take your time and consider each "text." When you are asked to reflect put your responses in the comments section at the bottom of the post. The longer assignments need to be turned in via Schoology.

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Write a brief (2-3 sentences) response to what you read/heard. Feel free to highlight points of disagreement, agreement, and uncertainty.

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"If now isn't a good time for the truth, I don't see when we'll get to it." - Nikki Giovani

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For Immediate Release
NEWS: Rep. Bowman, Sen. Booker Reintroduce African American History Act, Urge Nation to Tell the Truth About Its Past Rep. Bowman Contact: bowman.press@mail.house.gov
Sen. Booker Contact: Maya_Krishna-Rogers@booker.senate.gov
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Jamaal Bowman Ed.D (NY-16) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced the African American History Act in both the House and the Senate and urged leaders across the nation to tell the truth about the United States' history of racism and white supremacy. The bill has been reintroduced with over 100 original co-sponsors in the House.

"It is our moral imperative to tell the truth about our past to finally reconcile with this nation's history of racism and white nationalism, and our legislation will serve as a vital component in our fight to do just that," said Congressman Jamaal Bowman Ed.D (NY-16). "The truth is under attack by white supremacists attempting to ban Black history at all levels of education, but we know that a democracy cannot exist without access to truth. As a Black man and an educator, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for this nation to collectively commit to learning from our past. Senator Booker's and my legislation invests $10 million over 5 years to support African American history education programs that will be available for students, parents, and teachers. The moment we are in requires a clear-eyed effort to ensure that everyone has access to resources and education that accurately recount African American history - including how the Black struggle for freedom has strengthened our society for all Americans and brought us closer to realizing the potential of our democracy."

"The story of Black people in America is inextricably linked to the story of America. The fullness of this rich history must be told -- both its dark chapters and the light brought by generations of people determined to overcome and make our country better through an ongoing quest for justice," said Senator Booker. "We have seen this happen far too many times throughout history - where some dismiss our important stories and intentionally change the way history is told to fit political agendas. As we begin Black History Month, I am proud to reintroduce this legislation that will invest in initiatives to make African American history education programs more accessible to the public, help educators incorporate these programs into their curriculum, and develop additional resources focused on Black History for students and families to engage with."

A multiracial democracy that ensures the social, economic, and political rights of all in the United States requires reconciling with American history and America's original sin of slavery and white supremacy. In order to reconcile together as a nation, it's critical that there are opportunities and dedicated resources for truth-telling.

Rep. Bowman's and Senator Booker's African American History Act invests $10 million over 5 years in the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to support African American history education programs that are voluntarily available for students, parents, and educators.

This bill will help the NMAAHC expand and improve upon their work in a variety of ways, including:

Developing and maintaining a variety of accessible resources to promote an understanding of African American history. This includes a collection of digital content, housed on the NMAAHC website, to assist educators, students, and families across the country in teaching about and engaging with African American history

Engaging with the public through programming, resources, and social media to increase awareness of African American history through a social justice and anti-bias lens

Convening experts and creating and disseminating scholarly work

Translating new and existing NMAAHC work into multiple languages

Further, the bill supports the NMAAHC's work to increase national capacity for African American history education, including:

developing and disseminating high quality pedagogy related to teaching African American history

providing opportunities for Professional Development for early childhood, elementary, and secondary teachers

designing and implementing a teacher fellowship program

engaging with local and state leaders interested in incorporating these resources in curricula

"Kids need access to age-appropriate, honest lessons about this country's history - its successes, its struggles, and its failures," said Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers. "These malicious, politically-motivated efforts thwart our efforts to have children think critically, expand their perspectives, and prepare them for whatever comes next. This bill will help our kids have a thorough understanding of the history and contributions of African Americans. We support Rep. Bowman and Sen. Booker in ensuring our kids have the right to learn, the right to think for themselves, and the right to information."

"The American Psychological Association applauds Congressman Bowman for introducing the African American History Act, which would provide funding for increased resources, technical support, professional development, and dissemination of research and teaching materials related to African American History," said Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association. "An accurate teaching of history is not only vital to our development and well-being as individuals, but also as a nation. Understanding our past provides the ability to make systemic improvements to the lives of all of our citizens, including by eradicating disparities in educational attainment, socio-economic status, and healthcare outcomes."

"In a time when the threats to our freedoms are being attacked in manners not seen in decades, there is but one grounder, history," said Mondale Robinson, Founder of the Black Male Voter Project. "An unmolested history that accounts all of America's past events, and most particularly in human affairs is mandated to comprehend both where we are and how we got here. Which requires a robust commitment to any teachings that shade in unfinished learnings of said affairs. And for this very reason I stand one-hundred percent behind, beside and in defense of Rep. Bowman's re-introduction of the African-American History Act, for it is the missing anthology of this country and brings us all closer to a fuller appreciation of America's historical scholarship."

"As a Black girl growing up in Philadelphia, I was fortunate that my late father, a history teacher, taught my sisters and me (and his students) about the important role our enslaved ancestors and other Black people have played in the struggle and progress that has made America what it is today. All the educators I know understand that an accurate, well-rounded, and inclusive education - one where every student sees themselves and others - fosters joy in learning and a deep understanding of the beauty and complexity of our full American story," said NEA President Becky Pringle. "Whether implementing book bans or blocking Advance Placement African American history courses, attacks on teaching honest education are continuing throughout this country. The African American History Act helps to counteract these assaults on our students' freedom to learn all of our nation's history. I applaud Congressman Jamaal Bowman for introducing this much-needed legislation and urge Congress to make it law."

Original Cosponsors (104): Reps. Alma S. Adams, PhD, Jake Auchincloss, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Joyce Beatty, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Suzanne Bonamici, Shontel M. Brown, Cori Bush, Tony Cárdenas, Andre' Carson, Troy A. Carter, Sr., Greg Casar, Sean Casten, Kathy Castor, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Judy Chu, Yvette D. Clarke, Emanuel Cleaver, II, James Clyburn, Steve Cohen, Gerald E. Connolly, Joe Courtney, Danny K. Davis, Suzan K. Delbene, Mark DeSaulnier, Debbie Dingell, Lloyd Doggett, Veronica Escobar, Adriano Espaillat, Lizzie Fletcher, Lois Frankel, Maxwell Frost, Jesús "Chuy" García, Al Green, Dwight Evans, Raul M. Grijalva, Jahana Hayes, Brian Higgins, James A. Himes, Steven Horsford, Sara Jacobs, Pramila Jayapal, Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr., Sydney Kamlager-Dove, William Keating, Robin L. Kelly, Ro Khanna, Greg Landsman, Rick Larsen, John B. Larson, Barbara Lee, Summer Lee, Teresa Leger Fernández, Ted W. Lieu, Stephen F. Lynch, Kathy Manning, Lucy McBath, Betty McCollum, James P. McGovern, Gregory W. Meeks, Grace Meng, Kweisi Mfume, Gwen S. Moore, Joseph D. Morelle, Jared E. Moskowitz, Seth Moulton, Jerrold Nadler, Eleanor Homes Norton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Jimmy Panetta, Donald M. Payne, Jr., Scott Peters, Chellie Pingree, Mark Pocan, Ayanna Pressley, Mike Quigley, Delia Ramirez, Jamie Raskin, Deborah K. Ross, Mary Gay Scanlon, Jan Schakowsky, Adam Schiff, David Scott, Terri A. Sewell, Darren Soto, Haley Stevens, Mark Takano, Shri Thanedar, Bennie Thompson, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Jill Tokuda, Paul D. Tonko, Ritchie Torres, Norma J. Torres, Juan Vargas, Marc Veasey, Nydia M. Velázquez, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Susan Wild, Nikema Williams, Frederica S. Wilson

Endorsing organizations: 914United, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), American Psychological Association (APA), Badass Teachers Association, Black Male Voter Project, Black to the Future Action Fund, Bronx Climate Justice North, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Children Are More than Test Scores, The Coalition for Understanding Racism Through Education (CURE), The Collective New Rochelle, Connecticut BATs, The Education Trust, Hip Hop Caucus, Hispanic Democrats of Westchester, Illinois Families for Public Schools, Indivisible New Rochelle, Indivisible Scarsdale, Indivisible Westchester, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Journey for Justice Alliance, Mount Vernon City School District, Mujeres en New Rochelle, Muslim Media Corporation, National Action Network Inc., National Education Association, National Urban League, National Women's Law Center (NWLC), Network for Public Education, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social, New Rochelle FUSE, New Settlement, New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), North Bronx Racial Justice, New York City Coalition for Educating Families Together, NYCD16-Indivisible, Oregon BATs, Oregon Save Our Schools, Parents for Public Schools of Greenwood & Leflore County Inc., Parents Supporting Parents NY, Pastors for Florida Children, Power of Ten, Rochester Coalition for Public Education, SchoolHouse Connection, Teach the Truth - Westchester, United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Uniting to Save Our Schools, Universal Hip Hop Museum, Yonkers Family YMCA

For a one-pager on the legislation, click here.

For a section by section on the legislation, click here.

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NEWS: Rep. Bowman, Sen. Booker Introduce African American History Act, Urge Nation to Tell the Truth About Its Past

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For Immediate Release NEWS: Rep. Bowman, Sen. Booker Reintroduce African American History Act, Urge Nation to Tell the Truth About Its Past Rep. Bowman Contact: bowman.press@mail.house.gov Sen. Booker Contact: Maya_Krishna-Rogers@booker.senate.gov WASHINGTON, D.C.

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H.R.765 & S. 233 - African American History Act

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H.R.765 & S. 233 - African American History Act