AP African American studies is a class focused on advanced topics in Black History and Culture. This class was designed for students to further their knowledge and engagement of the historical expanse of the African diaspora in America. From pre-colonial Africa to present day Black America, we will explore the African / African American experience from prehistory to the present day. This class is live 3x/week and will also include supplemental reading, reflection activities and interviews to further the conversation. 

--- Week 1 ---
- Day 1: Introductions & Lesson 1.1- Introduction to African American Studies ("What Is African American Studies?")

- Day 2: Lesson 1.1 (cont.)- Introduction to African American Studies ("What Is African American Studies?") & Lesson 1.2: The Strength & Complexity of Early African Societies ("The African Continent: A Varied Landscape"), & Lesson 1.3- The Strength & Complexity of Early African Societies ("Population Growth and Ethnolinguistic Diversity"

- Day 3: Lesson 1.4- The Strength & Complexity of Early African Societies ("Ancestral Africa: Ancient Societies and African American Studies")

Weekly Independent Study:
- Research & Journal Assignment #1


--- Week 2 ---
Day 1 (M): Lesson 1.5-  Early West African Empires ("The Sudanic Empires")

Day 2 (W): Lessons 1.6 & 1.7-  Early West African Empires ("Global Visions of the Mali Empire" & "Learning Traditions")

Day 3 (Th.): Lessons 1.9 & 1.10: Early African Kingdoms and City-States (Southern Africa: Great Zimbabwe & East Africa: Culture and Trade in the Swahili Coast)

Weekly Independent Study: 
- Lesson 1.8 Early African Kingdoms and City-States ("Indigenous Cosmologies and Religious Syncretism")
- Lessons 1.11-1.13 Early Africa and Global Politics (West Central Africa: The Kingdom of Kongo, Kinship and Political
Leadership, & Global Africans)
- Independent Reading


--- Week 3 ---
Day 1 (M): Recap Reading + Lessons 2.1 & 2.2 - Atlantic Africans and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (African Explorers in America & Departure Zones in Africa and the Slave Trade to the U.S.)

Day 2 (W) Lesson 2.2 & 2.3 -  Atlantic Africans and the Transatlantic Slave Trade ('Departure Zones in Africa and the Slave Trade to the U.S.' & 'Capture and the Impact of the Slave Trade on West African Societies')

Day 3 (Th.) Lessons 2.4 & 2.5 - From Capture to Sale: The Middle Passage (Architecture & Iconography of a Slave Ship & Resistance on Slave Ships)

Weekly Independent Study:
- Lessons 2.6 From Capture to Sale: The Middle Passage (Slave Auctions)


--- Week 4 ---
Day 1 (M): Lessons 2.7 & 2.8 - Slavery, Labor, and American Law (The Domestic Slave Trade and Forced Migration & Labor, Culture & Economy)

Day 2 (W): Lesson 2.9 Slavery, Labor, and American Law (Slavery and American Law: Slave Codes and Landmark Cases)

Day 3 (Th.) Lesson 2.10 Culture and Community (The Concept of Race and the Reproduction of Status)

Weekly Independent Study:
- Continued reading for Lesson 2.8 & 2.9
- Continued reading for Lesson 2.11 & 2.12 "Faith and Song Among Free and Enslaved African Americans" & "Music, Arts, and Creativity in African Diasporic Cultures)


--- Week 5 ---
Day 1 (M): Lesson 2.13 Culture and Community (Black Pride, Identity, and the Question of Naming)

Day 2 (W): Lessons 2.15 & 2.16 Culture and Community (Legacies of the Haitian Revolution & Resistance and Revolts in the U.S.)

Day 3 (Th.): Lessons 2.17 Culture and Community (Black Organizing in the North: Freedom, Women’s Rights, and Education)

Weekly Independent Study 
- Reading: Lesson 2.14 Culture & Community (The Stono Rebellion and Fort Mose)


--- Week 6 ---
Day 1 (M): Lessons 2.18-2.20 Resistance Strategies, Part 1 (Maroon Societies and
Autonomous Black Communities, Diasporic Connections: Slavery and Freedom in Brazil, African Americans in Indigenous Territory)

Reading: Lessons 2.21 - 2.22 Resistance Strategies, Part 1 ('Emigration and Colonization' &'Anti Emigrationism: Transatlantic Abolitionism and Belonging in America')

Day 2 (W): Lessons 2.23 Resistance Strategies, Part 2 ('Radical Resistance')

Day 3 (Th.) Lesson 2.24 Resistance Strategies, Part 2 ('Race to the Promised Land: Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad')

Weekly Independent Study
- Lesson 2.25 Resistance Strategies, Part 2 (Legacies of Courage in African American Art and Photography')

--- Week 7 ---

Day 1 (M): Lesson 2.26 Abolition and the War for Freedom ('Gender and Resistance in Slave Narratives') + Final Project Presentations

Day 2 (W): Lesson 2.27 Abolition and the War for Freedom ('The Civil War and Black Communities') + Final Project Presentations

Day 3 (Th.) Lesson 2.28 Abolition and the War for Freedom ('Freedom Days: Commemorating the Ongoing Struggle for Freedom') + Final Project Presentations 

- A full course syllabus will be shared upon enrollment -


Please note that this course is based on and derived from the AP AAS curriculum but does not include access to the AP exam.*