Black History Is American History
The article was originally published on Daily Kos.
By Alan Singer
This post is adapted from a presentation at the 2025 conference of the American Historical Association on a panel discussing the new AP African American Studies Course. I am posting it now because February is Black History Month.
I don’t teach Black history, I teach American history, but Black or African American history is at the core of American history. You can’t honestly or accurately teach American history if you do not recognize this. At the conference, a white women in the audience ask if it was legitimate for a white teacher to teach the African American Studies Course in her Kansas school. Panelist Imani Hinson, an African American teacher who was on the committee creating the new APâ curriculum responded that the course was for all students, not just Black students, and it was important that white teachers also be involved in teaching Black history.
Despite a highly publicized bans in Florida and Arkansas, during the 2023-2024 school year, the modified College Board Advanced Placement African American Studies program was piloted in 700 classrooms in 40 states. However, secondary school teachers face considerable challenges adjusting any focus on African American history to address state and school district guidelines, including restrictions on approaches that reflect Critical Race Theory or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
In a politically charged atmosphere, teachers’ lessons are being reviewed by supervisors, school boards, parents, and the media. Teachers and curriculum developers are forced to adapt instruction to curriculum material including secondary school United States history textbooks that often ignores or minimizes the extent of racism in the past, its impact on the present, and African American contributions to American society.
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Alan Singer is a historian and teacher educator at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. His most recent books are Social Studies for Secondary Schools, 5th edition (Routledge, 2024) and Class-Conscious Coal Miners (SUNY Press, 2024). Blogs, tweets, essays, interviews, and e-blasts present his views and not those of Hofstra University.