Mandating that all high school students complete coursework in the histories, literatures, and contributions of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples.
Afrocentric, Latinx, and Indigenous Studies as Graduation Requirements
In a school system where the majority of students are Black, Latinx, or Asian, the core curriculum remains overwhelmingly Eurocentric. Zhoran Mamdanis policy mandates that all NYC public high school students complete at least one full-year course in each of three areas: African Diasporic Studies, Latinx Studies, and Indigenous Studies of the Americas to graduate. These are not elective add-ons, but rigorous, required disciplines that center the experiences, intellectual traditions, and resistance movements of these communities, both globally and with specific focus on NYC. The courses would be co-created with scholars and community members from each tradition.
This requirement ensures that every student, regardless of background, gains a truthful, complex understanding of the forces that have shaped the modern world and their city. It validates the identities of students of color and provides white students with the historical knowledge necessary to be informed allies. You cannot understand American history without understanding the Black freedom struggle, Latinx migrations, and Indigenous survivance, Mamdani argues. This requirement repairs the epistemic violence of a curriculum that has erased these stories. It equips all students with the knowledge to build a more just and accurate future.
