Cherry Hill Schools May Require African American Studies

CHERRY HILL, NJ — The Cherry Hill Public School District appears set to become the first school district in the state to make African American studies a graduation requirement.

The Cherry Hill Board of Education will consider making African American studies a graduation requirement when it meets Feb. 23.

The effort was spearheaded by Cherry Hill High School East senior Machayla Randall and the members of the African American Culture Club and Social Justice Committee, according to the school district.

“There’s definitely a lack of education of African American history throughout our school system,” Randall recently told ABC's "Nightline." “The most you learn about African American history is during the month of February. It’s limited to the civil rights movement, and that’s pretty much it, unfortunately.”

Cherry Hill Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Meloche agreed that it is something that needs to be taught and talked about it.

To implement the course, each high school would have to employ a full-time teacher, according to 70and73.com. The course would look at cultural influences as well as history.

The club spoke about the need during a Juneteenth March/Protest in Cherry Hill last year. Read more here: Juneteenth March/Protest Focuses On Education In Cherry Hill

"We are enslaved, but we are enslaved to stereotypes and inequality," said one student who helped organize the protest. "Yes, there is poverty in Africa, but our school makes it seem like that's all there is. We need to learn about Black figures other than just Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King."

"We have been recognized as a National School District of Character," Meloche said during the protest, which was organized in the wake of George Floyd’s death. "But we must do more. We must be recognized as a district and a community that is anti-racist. It's not enough to admire what we've done in the past. More must be done."