AP® African American Studies

From Africa to Hip-Hop Music and Culture, AP African-American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that examines the diverse social, political, and cultural experiences of Afro Descendant people in the Americas. Through direct encounters with varied sources, this course surveys the landscape of people of African descent from the earliest African civilizations to the social, political, and cultural movements of the 20th and 21st centuries. As an interdisciplinary course, students will encounter various types of texts and develop skills across multiple fields. These texts include but are not limited to song lyrics, paintings, sculptures, maps, and historical documents.  Students will actively engage with primary and secondary source materials which will assist students in developing historical, literary, visual, and data analysis skills. 

The course includes four units and also allows for exploration where students can identify and engage in a special topic within the field of African American Studies that falls outside of the curriculum. The units cover a 3000 year period and include Origins of the African Diaspora, Freedom, Enslavement and Resistance, The Practice of Freedom, and Movements and Debates.  

Students will participate in lessons that will encourage and develop their ability to analyze a variety of sources, argumentation, and allow for students to apply an interdisciplinary focus to their source encounters. Students will develop argumentation skills through structured discussions and projects, effectively articulating and defending viewpoints with evidence-based reasoning. Students will have opportunities to explore multimedia sources using their ebook, the course and exam description, digital art, and the Smithsonian Museum of African American Art.

Students must complete an individual project to explore four related sources on a topic of their choice and then present and defend their analysis of those sources. This project is scored by the teacher and constitutes 8.5% of the AP exam score. Students are required to meet synchronously for planning, practice, peer review meetings and formal presentations, using an online meeting tool provided through the course.  These meetings will be two to four times a month throughout the course, though students may choose to meet more at times. 

Students will be expected to enroll in AP Classroom through their VHS Learning AP course and will be guided to complete review work in AP Classroom throughout the year. AP Classroom resources include AP Daily Videos and unit-based Personal Progress Checks, which include AP-style multiple choice and free response questions.

Students enrolled in VHS Learning Advanced Placement courses with a passing grade are expected to take the AP Exam. Students register for AP exams through their local school or testing site as “Exam Only” students. AP exam scores will be reported to VHS Learning through AP Classroom; exam results will not affect the student’s VHS Learning grade or future enrollment in VHS Learning courses.

This AP course has a required summer assignment. The summer assignment is a review of prerequisite content and critical concepts students must be comfortable with before beginning the course. Students are expected to complete their summer assignment before the course begins and submit their work by the end of Week 1. Students who register on or after September 1 will receive an extension to complete the summer assignment by the end of Week 3.  

In this AP-level course, students are expected to invest approximately 10 hours per week on their coursework.