Emily:
At the end of last year, I received an email from a girl scout asking if the National Partnership would sign a letter to the College Board in support of an AP U.S. Women’s History Class (aka WAPUSH), which would create a comprehensive women’s history class that students could take to earn college credit. She ended her email with, “It would be amazing to see myself in the lessons taught and learn about the way women shaped this country, and to also spread the message that women are just as important as men. I hope to take this class when I am in high school.” These words hit me poignantly right in the heart.
When I was in high school, I didn’t know about subjects like “women’s studies,” nor did I have the lens that I have now to question why certain stories aren’t told. Everything changed for me in college. On the heels of the 2016 election, enlivened by an anger I had never felt before, I elected to take a course on the history of women’s protest movements.
I was hooked, and decided to change my minor to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies. I took incredible classes like Women and Comedy – a course that covered decades of iconic female comedians, their cultural impact, and the intersection of racial and gender stereotypes. As cliche as it sounds, I felt like my whole world had been turned upside down, like I could view the world through an entirely new perspective.
This experience also made me angry. Who and where would I be today if I never elected to take those classes, and therefore never learned about the history that isn’t taught in required courses? Gender justice has been a throughline across my professional career – it’s why I ended up here at the National Partnership. So when that email landed in my inbox, I knew I needed to learn more.
Lauren:
During a Communications team meeting in February, Emily shared this curious inquiry from a girl scout that came into our press inbox over the holidays. As she explained, a smile slowly crept onto my face. I knew exactly who had sent the email without ever reading it.
Kristen Kelly and Serene Williams, the two teachers leading this effort, share a lot of superlatives in my heart. Not only are they incredible educators and renowned scholars, I had the privilege of being their student 10 years ago at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton, California. The latest superlative of note? Kelly and Williams are trying to bring an AP U.S. Women’s History course to life, and Kristen’s daughter’s girl scout troop was aiding in outreach efforts to major organizations in the women’s movement.
The idea for an AP US Women’s History course came to Kelly and Williams 10 years ago while I was still a student at Sacred Heart. Back then, I spent hours camped out in Kelly’s classroom listening to her struggles trying to find a textbook that covered women’s contributions in history for high school students. She reached out to Williams, who shared similar frustrations, and the rest is “herstory”.
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Kelly and Williams’ initial proposal was to petition the College Board to ensure all AP Politics and Government students were required to study historical documents by or about women – alongside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s Letter from Birmingham Jail. After Kelly and Williams spent time working in the Schlesinger archives at Harvard, however, it was clear that there was so much information to share and stories that needed to be told that there should be a full-blown AP U.S. Women’s History course.
Kelly and Williams decided to model their campaign after the noteworthy campaign for AP African American studies. In both cases, students and educators alike were eager to join the fight. “What has surprised me is how many high school students from all over the United States have heard about this campaign and how eager they are to help. I receive emails from students nearly every day asking how they can get involved.” Williams shared. The WAPUSH course is a uniquely collaborative effort between students and educators, from course design to advocacy.
In addition to our chat with Kelly and Williams, we also got to hear via email from current Sacred Heart student Brooke about the course and her experience working alongside Kelly and Williams on their campaign. “I’m a very naturally curious person,” Brooke shared, “When I was in Ms. Kelly’s Modern World History class my freshman year, she spent a significant portion of the course talking about women and the suffrage movement. As I heard about their stories, I was instantly entranced. I had so many questions that were spurred on by the excitement of seeing myself reflected in my history class as I traced the factors that shaped the rights I have today.” Brooke’s experience demonstrates exactly why Kelly and Williams have dedicated the last 10 years to this unique effort, because, after all, “How can young women really see their value if they don’t see their place in history?”
An AP U.S. Women’s History course is especially important right now as the Trump administration, state governments, and local school boards seek to erase this history altogether. When asked about the need for diversity in the telling of women’s history in America, Williams shared “We are not telling a white woman’s story,” Williams shared. “Stories about women of color are woven through our entire curriculum and are included in every unit. Our curriculum begins with Indigenous women and how women had significant political agency in the Americas before European colonialism. The course will also go into great detail about how women of color laid the groundwork for the women’s rights movement and ends with modern day activists of color who are continuing to push for gender equality.” By integrating the narratives of women of color rather than isolating them, the course equips students to better understand U.S. history in an intersectional, and arguably more complete and comprehensive way.
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Lauren:
Because Kelly and Williams spent extra time building women’s history into my education, I can very clearly trace my career path to the National Partnership. At just 15, I was taught by educators that knew their responsibility to provide alternative perspectives to counteract the prominently misogynistic and racist culture of Silicon Valley and our country as a whole. I didn’t have to wait until college to realize “women and gender studies” existed, instead, I was prepared to seek out those opportunities when I got to my alma mater. The earlier we expose young girls to their foremothers’ contributions the more confident, clever, and powerful women we will have. I saw my value because I knew my history, and promptly spent much of my adult life thus far working for organizations that are protecting and making women’s history. The National Partnership (formerly known as the Women’s Legal Defense Fund) is celebrating its 55th Anniversary this year and has been in the room for so many key moments in women’s history across all of our areas of expertise, whether it’s paid leave, reproductive rights and health, closing the gender pay gap, or ensuring affordable healthcare access for all. To give students like Brooke the opportunity to learn her history is to empower the next generation of young women to continue making women’s history.
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So, in response to the heartwarming girl scout, our decision to participate in a sign-on letter to The College Board is obvious – a resounding YES. The National Partnership’s history is women’s history, and we hope our future children come home from school one day to tell us all about it.
You can follow the WAPUSH campaign on Substack.
