Syllabus

AP AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES SYLLABUS

Spring 2024

Ms. Pittillo: cpittillo@greenville.k12.sc.us

Mr. McDonald: nd2233017@greenvilleschools.us

Course Description

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 today.  By doing so, students will develop historical, literary, critical thinking, visual, and data analysis skills.  The course focuses on the history and diversity of Black communities within the United States within the broader context of the African diaspora.

Course Goals

Throughout this course, students will learn to:

• 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.

College Course equivalent:  This course is designed to be the equivalent of an introductory college course in African American Studies.

Prerequisites:  There are no prerequisites for AP African American Studies, but students should be able to read a college-level textbook and to write in grammatically correct complete sentences and paragraphs.  

AP TEST EXAM DATE:  Tuesday May 14, 2024

Required Text:

Freedom on My Mind (3rd Ed. 2021) by Deborah Gay White, Mia Bay, and Waldo Martin, Jr.

The text will be supplied.

The Smithsonian Institution has created a collection to support AP African American Studies.  Students are encouraged to access the collection at https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/ap-african-american-studies-teaching-with-objects/87r13UWvIw2KOsjT

Course Units and Tentative Pacing:

Unit 1 – 3.0 weeks - Origins of the African Diaspora

Unit 2.1 – 2.5 weeks - Enslavement

Unit 2.2 – 2.5 weeks – Resistance and Freedom

Unit 3 – 3.5 weeks - The Practice of Freedom

Unit 4 – 4.5 weeks - Movements and Debates 

Review – 1 week

Spring break will be March 18-22

We will be working hard to cover a lot.  It is important that students do not fall behind.  There will be after school review sessions to help students prepare for the exam in April and May, but those have not yet been scheduled.

Assessments:

There will be a test at the end of each unit.  In addition to assessing your knowledge, the tests will be designed to help you prepare for the AP African American Studies test.  You can expect multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, essay questions, and document-based essay questions.  

Project Requirement:

Students will also define and execute a significant research project of their choice, drawn from topics or themes in the course, or from the broader field of African American studies.  

Each student’s project should be anchored in at least 4 sources, at least two of which – and potentially all of which – are secondary sources that reveal distinct and differentiated perspectives on the topic the student selects.  

Quarter Assessments:

40% Homework/Classwork/quizzes

60% Tests/Projects

Final Grade:

45% 1st Quarter

45% 2nd Quarter

10% Final Exam

Grading Scale:

A 90-100

B 80-89

C 70-79

D 60-69

F 0-59

Homework:  Homework will generally be in the form of Google Slides and text readings.  All homework assignments will be posted on Google Classroom.  For those who are absent: missed work is due no later than 5 days after the student returns to class.  Long absences due to illness or other issues will be addressed individually.

Late work:  Wade Hampton High School has a schoolwide late work policy.  Late assignments turned in before the end of the unit will be penalized 10%.  Late work submitted after the unit Is completed will be penalized 10% per day.  Major assignments will not be accepted late without a parent conference.  This is a college level course, and students should not fall behind..

Discipline:   Any misbehaving, disrupting class, or misuse of time will be met with the following discipline plan:

1.  Verbal warning

2. Student/Teacher conference (this will take place immediately in the hallway)

3. Parent contact – at this point, the parent will be informed that the next infraction by the student will result in an administrative referral

4. Referral to administrator and parent contact

*Any infractions after a student has received a referral will result in immediate administrative referral and parent contact.