On Jan. 21, AP African American Studies went on a field trip to Oakland where they explored art revolving around the African American community.
Junior Duma Dawson, now a peer tutor for the class, really enjoyed taking the class last year. This was his second time on the field trip.
When asked to give a brief overview of the class, Dawson said, “It’s really fun, it’s very interactive, there’s a lot of learning from videos, book excerpts…I believe it’s a pretty light class where you can actually learn a lot.” He enjoys Mr. Boyd’s teaching as well. “He’ll give us speeches to read, videos to watch and take notes on,” said Dawson.
Dawson enjoyed revisiting all the places he went on the field trip last year, specifically a mural containing writing in another language and rhombuses. Dawson also appreciated the “mural for people who had passed, like Oakland icons.”
Senior Olivia Bunkers is currently enrolled in AP African American Studies. She said she took the class because “[I am] really interested in history and this is the only history class I haven’t taken.”
Bunkers gave a brief roadmap of the field trip: “The first thing we did was with a company that finances and sponsors murals and sets up their permits. We went on a tour of the different murals they sponsor and a lot of them had to do with activism and Black Power and remembrance. The second thing we did [was go] to the California History Museum because they had an exhibit on reclaiming spaces in history for Black people and people of color. And we also went to the Black Panther Party museum.”
Bunkers enjoyed the field trip. She said, “seeing real life examples is helpful and it’s also like an educational break. School is a lot but field trips are a break from that while also still learning.”
Like Dawson, senior Daniel Wang took the class last year. Wang took the class because he enjoyed history and thought the class would be interesting because it combines both U.S. and African American history.
Wang’s favorite part of the field trip was the mural tour: “It made me appreciate the art and the significance behind graffiti art on buildings you would usually just look past.”
Wang elaborated further on how important it is to have opportunities to attend field trips such as this one. “It helps you engage with the material you’d learn about in class on a more hands-on level” he said.
All the students, both past and current, learned from the field trip and enjoy taking the class overall. In a recommendation to his peers Dawson said, “If you want to learn more about a lesser known side of American history, I think it’d be a great class to take.”
