Statewide Black studies program near approval

Dallas ISD’s African American Studies program is close to becoming a statewide elective, reports the Dallas Morning News. The State Board of Education votes this Friday (Jan. 31) on standards for districts to offer the course as n elective social studies class for high school students. While discussing amendments to the standards earlier this week, the board mostly offered minor edits, but some members raised questions about the scope of the course. If the amendments are approved this Friday, the course will stay on track to become Texas’ second ethnic studies course. The first, focusing on Mexican American studies, gained statewide approval in 2018. The African American Studies course could go into affect as soon as this Fall. The course is already being taught in 16 districts. Its current version focuses beyond the context of slavery and the civil rights movement. “God bless MLK. God bless Malcolm X. God bless all those names we hear all the time because they obviously were trailblazers, but we knew there were trails blazed before them as well, said Jamila Thomas, who spearheaded the course’s creation as the former director of DISD’s Racial Equity Office.