Pilot AP African American course immerses students in interdisciplinary research, discourse

A new interdisciplinary AP class that features a combination of multiple strands of science, law, and the humanities, is weaving fascinating and powerful patterns for our Upper School students who are taking the AP African American pilot course this year. 

“This class is a reckoning of lost history with a particular focus on how a particular group of people has been etched out of American history,” explained Upper School English teacher Nailah Moonsammy, whose students are working to create an in-depth research project about topics in the African-American diaspora. “The curriculum provides a pathway to insert their accomplishments and understand how those in this community were contributors to the present-day United States,” she added.

Throughout the class, Ms. Moonsammy uses a variety of facilitation techniques, like gallery walks, turn and talks, and triad conversation – “I want to give you a lot of time to talk,” urged Ms. Moonsammy – to immerse students more deeply into the research and to answer questions like, “Why did Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?,” “Did Lincoln favor keeping the country together more than freeing slaves?,” and “What was Lincoln’s 10 Percent Plan?” (and why wasn’t it passed?).

“This is an authentically interdisciplinary class,” shared Ms. Moonsammy. “We study basic economics to understand capitalistic forces; racialized science to see how individuals legitimized the institution of racism; art through portraits and artifacts, anthropology through the study of ancient Africa and how much of that history was brought to the U.S.; as well as psychology, literature, and constitutional law.”

A year-long course, the curriculum culminates with an in-depth research project/annotated bibliography per student that will explore a range of topics (some College Board-suggested and others that are student-generated), like redlining and the influence of Black fashion on pop culture; and for some, topics that the College Board removed. A final AP exam caps off the course. 

In addition to the deep research, Ms. Moonsammy designed a discussion vehicle that tests and refines the civil discourse skills of students with her "Real Talks." “There are two Real Talks per unit, and these are an opportunity for students to bring up a subject that they want to talk about, which may be politically taboo. By using boundaries that establish pros and cons within a scholarly framework, we have been able to have some incredibly meaningful conversations,” said Ms. Moonsammy. Their last topic? A discourse on Affirmative Action.

For Ms. Moonsammy, this course represents a dynamic two-way model that is both refreshing and intellectually challenging. “I enjoy how much I’m learning with them,” she said. “ I've been teaching for 19 years, but in this class, we are all students and we are learning from each other. We have vested interests and ultimately, there’s more power in that.”

Photography by Alvin Caal/Friends Academy