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AP U.S. Women's History Proposal

2024-2025 WAPUSH Campaign Goals

After successfully petitioning the College Board to work towards the creation of the first standalone AP course focusing on women (known as WAPUSH), Kristen Kelly and Serene Williams, alongside a high school students across the country, will be working on a plan to gather support to pilot this course using benchmarks provided by the College Board. 

 

During the 2024-2025 school year, the WAPUSH team will work to collect:
 

  1. 100 letters of support from universities willing to grant college credit for an AP U.S. Women’s History course
     

  2. 250 letters of support from high schools willing to teach the course
     

  3. Gather institutional support outside of academia for this course. 
     

Please reach out to serene@teachwapush.org if you are interested in participating

Support for AP U.S. Women's History

“Providing high school students across the country with more opportunities to learn about the critical contributions and historical impact of women is inspiring, and the commitment shown by Serene Williams, Kristen Kelly, and their team of students to raise support for the development of an AP course in the field of Women’s Studies is exciting.

”The College Board, March 2024

At the Alice Paul Institute, we know that recognizing women’s contributions is not only a matter of historical accuracy, but also an imperative step towards fostering inclusivity, equality, and empowering future generations. We overwhelmingly support the work of Kristen Kelly and Serene Williams in their fight for the creation of an AP U.S. Women’s History course which would effectively validate women’s experiences and accomplishments in helping to shape this nation.
 

--Alice Paul Institute

"Taking an A.P. history course in high school put me on a path to becoming a historian, even though there was no women's history for me to study in the 1960s.  Now that women's history is flourishing, I strongly support the creation of an A.P. history course in that field so that students will have the chance to learn first hand about this vitally important topic."
 

--Historian Susan Ware

"The consideration of a  proposal for an advanced placement text in U.S. Women’s History is a wonderful development. It is important to realize that women’s history is not separate but an avenue into U.S. history in all its variety and change. This was the principle with which myself and my co-authors have written Through Women’s Eyes, which is subtitled An American History with Documents. As this suggests it is also designed to give students hands-on experience with doing history, by reading, interpreting and contextualizing visual and literary documents coming directly from the past. Stimulating young students’ interest in our nation’s past is crucial to the development of their citizenship.

--Historian Ellen DuBois

"Learning about Women's History is empowering for both young women and boys. I have taught a women's History course, and the students were inspired and thrilled to be learning whose shoulders they stand on!"
 

--Filmmaker Martha Wheelock

"On behalf of the National Women’s History Alliance, I am writing to express our enthusiastic support for your campaign to establish an Advanced Placement U.S. Women’s History course. Your initiative to broaden the scope of historical education in high schools is both commendable and essential...This initiative aligns perfectly with the mission of the National Women’s History Alliance to recognize and celebrate the diverse and profound achievements of women throughout history. The momentum you have gained, including media attention and encouragement from the College Board, speaks volumes about the importance and timeliness of this course. By incorporating U.S. Women’s History into the AP curriculum, you are not only fostering historical accuracy but also promoting inclusivity and equality, which are critical for empowering future generations.

--National Women's History Alliance

In addition to support above, this campaign is supported by thousands of people including historians Dr. Wendy Rouse, Dr. Bonnie Morris, Dr. Lillian Faderman and Dr. Estelle Freedman

©2024 by Kristen Kelly and Serene Williams

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