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Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at Sacramento State in 1967. A new course on Black history will allow students at some Sacramento high schools to meet a graduation requirement. <\/p>\n
ERHARDT KRAUSE<\/p>\n
Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n
When classes resume this fall, African American U.S. History will count as an option to meet the U.S. history and social science graduation requirement for students at six Sacramento City Unified campuses.<\/p>\n
The course will be offered at American Legion, C.K. McClatchy, John F. Kennedy, Luther Burbank and Rosemont high schools. West Campus will offer an Advanced Placement course only, according to the district.<\/p>\n
The district promoted the new course in a social media post last week, encouraging interested students to contact a school counselor. In the June 24 post<\/a>, SCUSD emphasized its commitment in anti-racism work and said the course would give students \u201cmore inclusive and comprehensive understanding of U.S. history.\u201d<\/p>\n A March district presentation<\/a> said students would learn U.S. history through \u201cBlack voices, perspectives, and leadership,\u201d with coursework covering African origins, the transatlantic slave trade, the Civil Rights Movement and Black arts.<\/p>\n For Terrence Gladney, chair of SCUSD\u2019s Black\/African American Advisory Board, the approval marked what he called a \u201cbeautiful\u201d moment, especially because C.K. McClatchy High School was among the first campuses to start the course\u2019s rollout.<\/p>\n McClatchy, he said, was the starting point for much of the work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of ironic, but it\u2019s also kind of a beautiful thing \u2026 the school that was the epicenter was also the first one to acknowledge we need to adopt this to make our students whole,\u201d Gladney said.<\/p>\n In 2018, a science fair project at McClatchy prompted<\/a> outrage after it suggested a connection between race and intelligence, including by questioning whether some students of color had the intellectual ability to succeed in the school\u2019s academically rigorous program.<\/p>\n Gladney described the incident as a tipping point in the district\u2019s work to address the experiences of Black students. Following the controversy, SCUSD formed a task force made up of Black community leaders and advocates, which later developed a set of recommendations for the district to better address its racial disparities.<\/p>\n One of those recommendations called for greater representation of African American history and culture in the district\u2019s curriculum. Eight years after the presentation, the district approved the African American U.S. History Course of Study in March, advancing one piece from the recommendations advocates have urged the district to fully implement for years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to take intentional measures to undo an intentional system,\u201d Gladney said.<\/p>\n Gladney said he sees this moment as \u201ca seed\u201d and a chance to briefly \u201ccome up for air\u201d to acknowledge that the work has moved forward.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I know that there\u2019s still so much more opportunity,\u201d Gladney continued.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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