Black Queer Studies Left Out Again | Opinion
Ron DeSantis last year famously questioned, "Who would say that's an important part of Black history—queer theory?" Shortly thereafter, the College Board released its response with a new AP Black Studies framework that mirrored his contention, removing Black queer and trans people from the curriculum, among many other topics such as intersectionality and critical race theory.This past December, the College Board brought back some of the original ideas that were being considered for inclusion in a newly revised AP Black Studies curriculum, but stopped short of including Black queer and trans studies.
Once again, the College Board has buckled to political pressure, erasing an essential part of Black history and culture.Black queer and trans innovators and provocateurs have long helped define African American culture.
To leave them out of the story is to not tell the full history of the Black American experience. With Black History Month upon us, it's time to call out these politically motivated moves and make a change.The framework released by the College Board in December claims to want to teach students that Black people are not a monolith by examining the "interplay of distinct categories of identity" that make up Black communities across the diaspora.
They even profess to want to highlight the "resistance and resilience" of Black people. But in erasing queer and trans people from Black history, the College Board has done a serious disservice to all students by taking away a crucial dimension of Black life that allowed people to "resist oppression and assert agency."For example, in the 1920s, popular Harlem nightclub singer Gladys Bentley proudly proclaimed that she had married a woman in a civil ceremony.
