A student’s view of New Jersey’s Amistad Curriculum

Preface to the Amistad law passed in 2002. 

Highlighting the unheard & unseen within our education system 

Jersey City- In Public Square Amplified’s previous publication, interviews between reporter, Zoe Van Gelder, and seven fellow students within the Jersey City Public Schools District revealed a very noticeable trend in the small pool of interviews: not one student knew what the Amistad curriculum was, despite a 2002 New Jersey law that mandates all students learn under its guidelines. This is perhaps because the Amistad curriculum doesn’t exist in the way most would think, as a distinctly written rubric of classroom lessons and materials. Although legislators and educators most often call it the Amistad ‘curriculum’, it is many things beyond one set of lessons.

If the Amistad curriculum, named for the successful 1839 uprising aboard the slave transport Amistad, is not actually a curriculum in the way we often imagine, it’s natural to wonder what exactly it is, and why it has become nearly invisible and mostly unheard of. In the context of New Jersey legislation, Amistad references the 2002 statute which established an emphasis on the inclusion and enforcement of African American studies, contributions, and stories being placed in rightful context in history and English Language Arts classes within all New Jersey public schools.

Creation & implementation

The Amistad Law, proposed by Assemblymen William D. Payne and Craig A. Stanley, was modeled on the previous Holocaust legislation spearheaded by then-State Senator and future Governor Jim McGreevey, a statute that resulted in the creation of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education. The education students began receiving surrounding the Holocaust motivated legislators to produce a similar law educating children about the contributions of Black Americans for both global and United States history, thus setting in motion the legislative process that resulted in the passage of the Amistad Law in August 2002. 

The Amistad Law established the creation of the Amistad Commission, a 23-member consortium (originally 19) of commissioners plus support staff, that oversees the implementation and integration of African American studies within New Jersey public schools. Though the staff and management have changed throughout the years, it is now, like the Holocaust Education Commission, “in but not of” the Department of Education, following a  2011 decision by then-Governor Chris Christie and as officially enacted by Governor Phil Murphy in January 2021. This means the Commission can continue to operate independently, but with the full support and status of the Department of Education behind them, with the secretary of education sitting on the board. 

With the understanding that Amistad is not a set curriculum, but instead, a mandate of the integration of African American history, backed by a law and overseen by a commission, how does that translate into the classroom? Since there is no standardized, statewide set of learning materials, it is at the discretion of each district to design and implement the Amistad curriculum for their schools. 

To that end, the Amistad Commission maintains a website with resources for educators, with materials for all K-12 students including students with special needs, and those with hearing or sight impairments. These resources assist public school teachers with ensuring they are including African American contributions into the existing history and social studies curricula. The resources also help the Amistad Commission meet its mission to “promote a wider implementation of educational awareness programs regarding the African slave trade, slavery in America, and the many contributions Africans have made to American society.” 

Is Amistad working as intended? 

Of the dozen or so states that require the teaching of African American studies, New Jersey remains one of (if not the) first state to mandate the inclusion of African American studies, accomplishments, and contributions into their English Language Arts and Social Studies curricula.​ However, each school district decides what that inclusion looks like and whether to use the resources provided by the Amistad Curriculum. 

In Jersey City Public Schools, where the students were interviewed, it’s mandated, as in the rest of the state, that all teachers infuse African American contributions and history into their lessons. Few, if any, statistics indicate a percentage of compliance among New Jersey’s nearly 700 public school districts, including their approach to incorporating the studies. This, along with the fact that the content distributed by the Amistad Commission is meant to be interwoven with lessons, may be the major reasons for why it has been going unnoticed by students. 

James Harris is President of the New Jersey Association of Black Educators, as well as a retired Administrator from Montclair State University, and a previous member of the Amistad Commission. He spoke about the implementation of the curriculum and an uptick in compliance since 2018, when Dr. Lamont Repollet was appointed by Governor Murphy to be the state’s first Black Commissioner of Education. 

“Dr. Repollet was successful in getting the Amistad curriculum as part of the NJQSAC [the annual evaluation system that all schools within New Jersey must undergo],” Harris said, “Any school district that has not complied with the Amistad mandate, they will not get a passing grade under the Instruction and Program portion, and if they do not pass that they have to come up with a corrective action plan. So over the last three years, the local school districts have become very interested in making sure that they pass that part of the evaluation process.”

With the Amistad Commission now officially seated within the Department of Education, they have greater reach and more executive backing to seek out and support districts that are in non-compliance and yearly state funding to create and distribute learning materials and resources.

New Jersey stays the course on African American studies 

On Feb. 14, 2023, Gov. Murphy announced a decision to expand the Advanced Placement African American Studies course, which would  further advance studies and education on race and racism in New Jersey. With the pilot program of the College Board's AP African American Studies growing from a sole district to being offered in 26 schools during the 2023-24 school year, Murphy is aiming to ensure that “New Jersey stands are on the side of “teaching our full history.”

Although the implementation of this expansion had been under planning for quite some time, Gov. Murphy felt compelled to address recent remarks made by Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis. 

“As governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis prioritize political culture wars ahead of academic success,” Murphy said, “New Jersey will proudly teach our kids that Black history is American history.”

DeSantis, a strong adversary of the AP African American Studies course, has banned it from being taught in Florida public schools. His condemnation of the curriculum led to the College Board implementing restrictive changes to the curriculum, strongly censoring its original content. Virginia appears to be following Florida’s lead, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin last week announced that his Education Secretariat would be reviewing the coursework for any indication that it violates Virginia’s 2022 Executive Order 1. That order strictly prohibits any curricula that “uses inherently divisive concepts.” Because AP courses are created and implemented on a national level, any changes, like those spurred by Gov. DeSantis in Florida, have the potential to impact students’ education in all states, not just those who protest the coursework. 

The Amistad Commission’s new Executive Director, Dr. Patrick Lamy, is excited about the governor’s expansion of the AP African American Studies pilot program, feeling it aligns well with the commission’s mission. 

“This is a major step for the state of New Jersey and the students we serve,” Lamy said. 

Alongside the expansion of the AP African American Studies course, New Jersey continues to advocate for more inclusive education. The state’s willingness and ability to hold history accountable spotlights the previously unheard of Amistad curriculum and bodes well for other inclusive curricula to be developed. 

“In too many places, adults are attempting to limit students’ opportunities to learn and narrow the perspectives they are exposed to,” said NJEA President, Sean M. Spiller.  “We have long stood for honesty in education through our ongoing support of the Holocaust Curriculum and the Amistad Curriculum as well as the inclusion of instruction about the contributions of women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people. We will continue to advocate for teaching our students the truth in New Jersey, even when the truth is uncomfortable for some people.”