Explore the African American Experience: What stories emerge when we study Black communities in the U.S. within the broader history of Africa and the African diaspora? In this interdisciplinary course, you’ll examine culture, history, literature, the arts, and social sciences through diverse African American voices and perspectives. Fully aligned with College Board requirements, the course will strengthen your skills in analyzing sources, applying concepts, and making evidence-based arguments while preparing you for the AP® Exam. You’ll investigate topics ranging from early African kingdoms to present-day successes and challenges, analyzing literary works, political texts, visual culture, and data sets to understand essential concepts and pivotal movements in the Black experience. Along the way, you’ll consider how identities such as race, class, and gender intersect to shape perspectives and experiences within African American communities.
Why Take This Course? If you’re interested in history, culture, or social justice, this course offers powerful ways to understand African American experiences in both national and global contexts. You’ll strengthen your ability to interpret primary and secondary sources, build arguments, and think critically across disciplines while also practicing how to evaluate credibility, recognize bias, and connect scholarship to issues that matter today.
This is a yearlong course. Students may enroll in a GOA AP® course only if their member school offers AP® courses as part of its academic program. For schools that do not offer AP®, the site director may not approve requests for GOA AP® courses.
Students in GOA courses will need reliable access to a computer with webcam/microphone connections, an email address (preferably school-based), a Web-conferencing app (GOA courses use Zoom), and a Word processing app (GOA courses use Google’s G Suite). When necessary, alternative arrangements may be made. Some courses require additional materials which can be found in the Course Outline.
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