Home News RIDGE VIEW HIGH SCHOOL OFFERS UNIQUE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES COURSE

RIDGE VIEW HIGH SCHOOL OFFERS UNIQUE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES COURSE

9/8/2022

Students at Ridge View High School are taking a deeper dive into African American studies. Ridge View is one of about 60 schools nationwide and the only one in South Carolina to offer an Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies pilot course.

Social Studies teacher Daniel C. Soderstrom says students are going beyond learning how to recite the courage of Rosa Parks’ refusal to move from her seat, the eloquence of Martin Luther King’s speeches and writings, or the leadership of Harriet Tubman in antebellum America.

“The creation of this class signifies America's continuous strive for excellence in education. For instance, if you look at any history textbook used in public schools in the early 1900s, you will read how the people who were enslaved were supposedly content with their lives and how their problems only began after emancipation. This, of course, is untrue. However, throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, as a society, we gained a greater conscience for teaching history fairly and accurately. AP African American Studies is another step along that path,” said Soderstrom.

Ridge View first offered African American studies courses in 2017. Since then, the school has expanded to 10 sections of learning and adding an AP-level African American studies course serves to further excellence in education there. School officials believe by helping to design this AP-level course, they have the privilege of enhancing American education, which will benefit students around the globe for generations to come.

Soderstrom says, “What AP African American studies strives to do is teach students that Black history is not limited to slavery and the Civil Rights movement, that Africa has a rich history of powerful and wealthy nations, that American excellence shines through all peoples' backgrounds in the fields of art, science, mathematics, history, law, business, and politics.”

Students enrolled in the course are learning how to tell the story of the majority-Black government that rose to power in South Carolina after the Civil War. They are studying the progress of equality through the film industry with the creation of shows like The Jeffersons, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the Proud Family. They are learning about the powerful African city-states that rose to power over a thousand years ago. These are some of the topics covered in African American Studies, and through the AP course, they can delve deeper than ever before.