An African American studies course is being offered to Dallas Independent School District students to help promote diversity and inclusion.
What We Know:
- The goal is to have the course offered throughout the state but currently it is only being offered as an elective at Townview Magnet Center. The Texas State Board of Education is scheduled to implement the course in schools in 2020.
- In the past, African American history courses have only scratched the surface but this new course looks at African and African American contributions to society as a whole by way of math, science, and other key moments that have had an impact on the country.
- Shannon Anderson, the African American studies teacher at Townview Magnet said “They have received it so well. It has just been so refreshing to see my Hispanic students embrace someone else’s story and to ask questions and to make assertions and to embrace it like it was as important as their own. That’s what we need in this country right now – to embrace someone else’s story.”
- About 40% of students currently taking the Dallas class are Hispanic, said Leslie Williams, Dallas ISD’s deputy chief of racial equity.
Over the next few months, the board will create curriculum standards based on the existing course in the Dallas Independent School District and will take a final vote on it in April.
