Freedom to Learn

Timeline of NBJC’s Work on Curriculum Censorship
and Surveillance Pre and Post DeSantis’
Rejection of AP Black Studies Course

• Led a briefing in 2022 with members of our Good Trouble Network of Black LGBTQ+/SGL elected officials on the topic to prepare lawmakers to push back against these bills in their states.

• NBJC was a co-facilitator of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights webinar series in 2022 on curriculum censorship and surveillance 

• Dr. Johns co-authored an op-ed with Dr. Ivory Toldson (NAACP) that was published in Newsweek about Gov. DeSantis’ failures as a governor and his efforts to distract from those failures (including by attacking CRT, protections designed to address gender discrimination, Queer theories and LGBTQIA+ people, and Black history). 

• NBJC produced a video about DeSantis’ rejection of the AP course and the College Board’s poor positioning.  

• Dr. Johns spoke on MSNBC about the College Board and Gov. DeSantis’ lack of leadership and targeted attacks against trans children and democracy. 

• NBJC’s Executive Director joined Attorney and NBJC board member Ben Crump at a rally in FL on 
  • The legislature convened on March 7th, 2023, and shortly after that, legislation was passed, making it a criminal offense to gather at the Capitol in ways that may disturb the sensibilities of employees and elected officials. Gathering as we did on 2.15 in ways that perturbed Republican members and their staff can now lead to 5 years in prison and revocation of the right to vote. 

• Delivered a letter to the College Board on February 21st, 2023, undersigned by 31 Civil Rights and LGBTQ+ organizations condemning the College Board’s lack of leadership in the public battle with DeSantis. 
  • The College Board has yet to respond directly to our letter; however, a couple of days before we lifted the embargo on it, they sent out a press release acknowledging many of the points in our letter, including the following:
    • They made mistakes in the rollout that Florida’s governor is exploiting
    • They should have immediately denounced the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments.
    • The course is not in violation of Florida law.
      • The letter was covered by The Hill,  Salon, Politico Exclusive, and Business Insider.

• NBJC’s Director of Public Policy and Programs regularly joins Equal Ground FL and other organizing calls to offer organizing and messaging best practices for various actions on the ground. 

• Joined the Freedom to Learn Coalition as a co-convener on March 30th, 2023