Hayward Unified School District proposes social studies course to “investigate and analyze the resistance and liberation of all Americans, with a focus on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities”

Documents obtained through a public records filed by Zachor Legal Institute request include details on a social studies course proposal submitted in 2022 for four high schools in Hayward Unified School District in California that will “investigate and analyze the resistance and liberation of all Americans, with a focus on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, throughout United States history.” The proposal has since been adopted.

The course’s objective is to have students focus on topics as they relate to “the stories of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other nonconforming gender and sexual identities (LGBTQ+).”

Full course description:

According to the proposed description, course resources will focus on challenging the “forms of oppression and power,” conceptualizing “resistance,” and cultivating the “intersectionality of social factors shaping people’s lives.”

One of the unit lessons included in the course titled “Global Influence Intersections,” will have students analyze the “rise of the Black Panther Party as a hyper-local movement and its inclusion of international politics like the treatment of Palestinians and the embargo of Cuba connects the personal and the political, and brings the issues and debates of the Cold War to the policing of the bodies and societies of BIPOC, female, and queer Americans.”

A link to the full course outline is here.