Philadelphia high school students must take a course in African and African-American history

Reuters:

Philadelphia high school students must take a course in African and African-American history as a requirement for graduating starting with the next freshman class, officials said on Thursday.

The move makes the school district of Philadelphia the first in America to make such a course a mandatory part of the curriculum. About 65 percent of Philadelphia's 185,000 students are African American.

Henry Duvall, spokesman for the Council of the Great City Schools, said Philadelphia was the only one of the 65 major city school districts represented by the organization to make it mandatory. Some offer such courses as an elective.

The change was approved by the School Reform Commission, the body that runs Philadelphia's schools.

The new policy, which has been under discussion since the 1960s, aims to increase the cultural awareness of black students, said Sandra Dungee Glenn, a member of the commission and a leading proponent of the policy.

"Many people, when they think of Africa, still rely on Tarzan movies," she said, adding that the district might do the same for other ethnic groups in the future.

Philadelphia schools to require African studies

Philadelphia to require African studies to graduate