By Candice Richardson, The Seattle Medium
While the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench in all sorts of policy-making plans and infrastructure across the country, one group in particular is not allowing the pandemic to affect progress.
They are the 21 individuals who make up the African American Studies Workgroup. The workgroup was commissioned by the state’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) as part of a legislative requirement from Senate Bill 6066/House Bill 2633 — sponsored by St. Rep. Jesse Johnson, OSPI, and Washington Education Association for the 2020 legislative session — to expand Ethnic Studies within Social Studies curriculum in the state in order to shine a stronger light on African American history and culture for grades 7 through 12.