tonight, lost in space. a japanese company attempting the first moon landing by a private company says they lost contact with the lunar lander. i was supposed to land on the move after a three month journey today. mission control expected the communications to go dark for a little bit. but then 20 minutes after supposed to be landing, they saw nothing, didn't know it was there.

we'll see if it shows up. anderson is now. >> good evening. so it begins. four years the day after he entered the 2020 race with the video condemning the former president's comments after a white supremacist rally, joe biden is running for a second term. he appeared in a video released saying we still are in a fight for the soul of the nation. he spoke about the need to, in his words, defend democracy. repeatedly spoke of the need to stand up for what he termed personal freedom. this time, not just against the extremism of a former president who hopes to retake the white house, but a republican party, the president believes is enabled by him. we protect our rights, to make sure that everyone in this country is treated equally and everyone is given a fair shot at making it. >> but, you know, around the country, maga extremists are taking on the bedrock freedoms, cutting social security that you

paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy, dictating what decisions women can make and banning books and telling people who they can love while making it more difficult for you to vote. >> later in the day, president biden appeared before a group of trade union members touting the legislative record to finish the job. moments ago. harris picked up where the president left off in his video on the topic of abortion. she was speaking at howard university. she cited laws to ban abortion after six weeks by the one signed by presidential candidate ron desantis and said since most women don't know they're pregnant at that stage, most republicans in her words, don't know how a woman's body works. she also spoke about what she called an extremist plan for a national agenda to push strict abortion laws. someone else also speaking about abortion today is former south carolina governor nikki haley who declared for the republican presidential race in february. she appeared atten event

organized by an anti-abortion group calling for a constructive conversation on the issue and the need for what she termed a national consensus. didn't provide any details of what a national abortion policy would look like under a haley administration. also today, something else defined in the 2024 race, demanding investigations both criminal and civil into the former president. opening statements in a battery and defamation trial against him. eugene carol says the former president raped her in a department store dressing room. former president denied the charges. we'll have more on what happened in opening statements today in court later. i begin with the biden campaign. phil mattingly, what is going on behind the scenes today at the white house? >> anderson, besides the video from the president this morning, his entire day was defined by official events from the white house, ind had behind the scene was intensive furrey from top advisors and democrats to lay

grou groundwork for an intense battle ahead. i'm told advisors throughout the course of the day were making contact and reaching out to key groups of the biden coalition. the core pillars of what got him elected in 2020 and he'll need to get re-elected in 2024. young voters, latino voters, black voters, trying to ensure that all of those groups were aligned and understood what was coming and what was going to be needed going forward. so, too, we'll reach out and efforts to speak with donors. the top advisors for the president holding a call with top donors earlier today laying out the groundwork for the campaign. the message, what they see going forward. and they've also been invited more than a couple dozen of them to washington later this weekend for more briefings, more intensive discussions around a plan that i'm told between the campaign and its supportive outside groups could total more than $2 billion. as for the president, i'm told he was briefed throughout the day on how things were going. did hold a call with key democratic governors earlier today to lay out the message and the strategy particularly in swing states that his campaign

sees as the theory of the case going into things. more than anything else, there is an understanding that there is a critical contrast here that they want to push forward. they know there are headwinds. they see the poll numbers as well. they feel there say clear pathway so long as they get allies and groups and most importantly, their money in place for the road ahead. >> is the white house addressing the concerns about the president's age? not that there is anything they can do about it. >> it's a reality. your point, there is nothing they can do about it. that is one you hear from white house officials. this is the reality. the president is the oldest president in u.s. history. he is 80 years old. he will be 86 at the end of his second term. however, they have taken a lot of part of the fact that there is no real democratic challenges leading up to this moment. the national party is certainly behind him. when you look at the polls coming out of the course of the last couple weeks, there is an understanding that there is an apathy among democratic voters due to age and generational issues. they think they can address that. one way they tried to shift the

discussion a little bit is talk more about experience and what's -- what that got him in his first two years in office. sweeping legislative wins with no precedent over the last couple decades all of which he'll be talking about in the weeks and months ahead. he was talking about it to day in his public speech that he gave. that will be a primary focus. also, too, elevating the vice president. kamala harris giving a prime time abortion speech at at hbcu tonight. she was heavily featured in the campaign launch video. watch them work together in that capacity going forward. there is no question, a question that will keep coming up, one they feel like they can only address by having the president do what he does. >> phil mattingly, appreciate it. now for republican reaction to the biden video and controversy involving the former president's primary debate, we have all that. so, what did the former president and the republican party, what was the reaction to the president's announcement? >> former president trump released a statement talking about inflation, talking about the war in afghanistan, the

economy, a laundry list. he also said that president biden has been the worst american president, worse than the five worst american presidents. he did not name them. he said he surprised he is running for re-election. he called them a corrupt president. but no specifics to this, of course. one thing he did not mention is age. that was interesting, of course. donald trump, 76 years old. joe biden, 80 years old. the they're contemporaries here. other republicans went after the biden administration in a very unusual way. the republican national committee releasing a very new ad that was made out of artificial intelligence, imagining what the world would be on a second biden administration. but as for the former president, he had this to say. he said, with such a clam tuesday and failed presidency, it's inconceivable that he would think of running for re-election. when i stand on that debate stage and compare our records, it will be the radical democrats' worst nightmare. he said debate stage.

he riled republicans on that same topic later today. >> he floated the idea he may not participate in republican primary debates. pt. >> he did. that was sort of unusual. he said he's not been consulted about the primary debates. the first one is in august. the next is reagan library after that. and the first one is on fox news. he said he has not been consulted and may not participate. he said there were hostile networks hosting these debates. so certainly interesting in the wake of the tucker carlson news, of course. he's come out in support of that to fire fox news host. the republican national committee, republican officials say that -- excuse me, his advisors were told about these specific debates. but he simply a candidate. he's not running this process. the republican national committee is running this process. we will see if the former president actually decides to not debate. we heard the same claims four and eight years ago. at the same time, he is always

jumped into the debates because that tv time simply is too tempting for him. >> yeah. thank you very much. appreciate it. perspective on all this now, co-anchor of "cnn this morning" caitlyn collins and in the latest book "wild land: the making of america's fury." >> what you are hearing from the biden campaign about the road ahead? >> i don't think it's going to look that different in terms of what biden is doing day by day. they pointed to what president obama dead d. when he announced he was running for re-election. he wasn't on the trail every day. they'll use white house events to showcase that. he's never holding any kind of rallies like what you've seen former president trump do and what he's expected to do going forward. one thing this announcement does help and what they're looking forward to doing is fund-raising. that is a key component. there are questions was he

nothigoing to announce now ar later? this was put together once he said in ireland he was announcing it soon. we'll see the formation of what it looks like with the campaign headquarters in delaware. >> they're gearing up for being against trump, i assume. >> yes, that is who they want to run against. i mean, obviously, they don't know ultimately. that is the presumption right now. they want it to be a trump-biden rematch. they know how to beat him. they've done it before. they feel that's more effective. also with the age question as well, of course, that is more in line. only 3 1/2 years apart compared to if it is a governor desantis. >> how personal is this, abby, for president biden to go against president trump again? >> yeah. i mean, you have to remember that biden came back into public life because of donald trump. he, after his son died, kind of receded back into sort of private life. he was going to remain there until, i think, this moment.

that's why charlottesville really sticks in his mind. it is, i think, as he said publicly the moment he realized this is deeper than just politics occupying the office. but, of course, he is a politician. and like all politicians, once you have the office, you tend to want to keep it. biden has been running for president now for 30 years. he wanted to be president of the united states. the i think that's part of the picture here, too. as caitlyn says, he has a sense of confidence about this particular challenge as it relates to trump. he understands the formula for beating the former president a second time. dispute all the challenges out there, he has a team around him that takes a very methodical approach dealing with one set of issues at a time, shoring up, you know, for example, the democratic base.

i noted today, they rolled out several announcements of endorsements like gavin newsome. so they're tra stra teethic. that combined with biden's self-confidence about abeat trump puts him in in position again. >> evan, when biden first ran, there was talk about, well, he would be one-term president. sort of a bridge the next generation. was that all just kind of talk? >> you know, i think there was to use a term from foreign affairs a little bit of strategic 5:0 strategi strategic ambiguity statements. they would open up government. open the administration to a more diverse roster of talent. and gender terms, in racial terms. and they've done that. if you look at the people that they brought into the administration, judicial pintments, but you can't deny the fact that a lot of people

took from his mess efrpging at the time the idea that he might only run for one term. at the time the adviser were saz, loog, he wouldn't say that. that is political malpractice to do so. that's not what a lot of people heard. >> caitlyn, the biden committee is making abortion front and center. we see kamala harris out there tonight. i want to play some of what she said at howard. >> fundamental freedoms are under attack in our country today. and it is the tradition of this university and dare i say the tradition of our country to fight for freedom, to fight for rights, to fight for the ability of all people to be who they are. and make decisions about their own lives and their bodies. >> this is clearly an issue democrats see as something that is mobilizing people to vote. >> yeah.

look what happened in wisconsin we recently with that supreme court race. she ran clearly on what she said when it came to abortion. galvanized republicans, of course. something they sought for so many decades. but in the end it's energizing democrats in a way this we've seen is also putting republicans kind of on. they're not sure how to handle it. we are talking to asa hutchison who is announcing tomorrow that he is a republican contender, he said he thinks abortion may be on the back burner by the time 2024 really heats up. i'm not so sure about that. it's one of the number one issues we've seen mobilizing voters. republicans are struggling around, you know, saying in north dakota, they're signing strict bills into law. desantis is signing that six-week bill into law. will that turn off moderate voters? if he was the nominee? i think it is something that is more difficult for republicans to talk about. they haven't really found their footing on it. >> abby, we may have a supreme court which weighs in again this

time next year on the medical, the pill, the medical abortion which is widely used, has been for decades. >> yeah. i mean, look, this is a live issue. i don't think as asa hutchison suggests this is going to necessarily fade. the reason actually is because republican legislatures and lawmakers are pushing increasingly restrictive abortion bills at the state level. that is always going to keep this issue on the front burner. we're also starting to see among republicans a real pressure being put on some of these candidates. by anti-abortion groups, for example, the susan b. anthony list, really wanting to put people on the record. the what number of weeks would you be willing to support in terms of federal abortion bans? even if some republicans, maybe some moderates wanted to say let's not talk about this so much, i think there's the right

flank of the republican party that has said we've been fighting for this for 50 years and they want to see really hard commitments. the people who are trying to be somewhere in the squishy middle on the republican side are not going to be able to do that because there is this kind of grassroots movement that is still there pushing them further to the right. we saw that with nikki haley as she today tried to say, let's just have a conversation about it. never really mentioning what her line is in terms of when she would like to see abortion restricted in this country. >> and he touts his record from the first two years in office. republicans now control the house and no one expects any of the president's remaining legislative priorities to pass congress. how much could that hurt him between now and the election? >> look, i think what you're hearing him stake out and became very clear in this video today is that he's framing this election as larger now than just legislative action. they had a lot of that in the first two years. but as he put it today, this is about freedoms, fundamental

freedoms. that resonates with a lot of democrats that feel they look at the overturning of roe v. wade, the challenges to same-sex marriage, the effort to try to roll back what have come to be settled freedoms, settled laws in the united states. i think for a lot of americans, particularly democrats who might be uneasy about the idea of a biden at the age of 80 going for a second term, they'll look at that choice and say this is a grand choice. it's a referendum on the character of the nation. >> appreciate it. caitlyn, abby, everyone, thank you. ahead, after years of legal wrangling, opening statements to day in a lawsuit against the form he president. eugene carol alleges that donald trump raped her and defameded her and more recent kmenlts he made. he denies all her claims. we'll have details on opening statements ahead. also, more fallout of the firing of tucker carlson. a former fox producer is now suing the network over what she says was a hostile work environment for women.

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>> she shared her story of an alleged assault by president trump. carol is suing trump for battery, stemming from the attack that took place in 1995 or early 1996 in the dressing room of a department store in new york city. she is also suing him for defamation for comments trump made about her last october. on his truth social platform last fall, trump posted, it is a hoax and a lie, just like all the other hoaxes that have been played on me for the past several years. and while i'm not supposed to say it, i will. this woman is not my type. he also posted, i don't know this woman. i have no idea who she is. she made up a story that i met her at the doors of a department store and swooned her. in the deposition for this case, trump called carol a nut job. she filed the second lawsuit against trump last november after a new law called the adult survivor's act passed in new

york. that allows adults to bring claims years after the attack. carol claims trump forceded her up against a dressing room wall, pinned her in place with his shoulder and raped her. >> he managed to penetrate me. against my will completely. >> carol's lawsuit says trump jammed his hand under her coatdress and pulled down her tights then forced his penis inside of her. she says the attack lasted two to three minutes. trump has denied all of carol's claims including the rape allegation. carol says she called a friend right away that night who backs up her story. >> i remember her saying repeatedly, he pulled down my tights. it was horrible. we fought. and i said, let's go to the police. >> carol us alawsuit claims the alleged sexual assault caused her significant pain and suffering adding trump's defamiliar torre statement has injured the representation on which she makes her livelihood. >> not one person. >> carol sued trump in 2019 for

defamation after he denied raping her. >> it was a total false accusation. and i don't know anything about it. >> the trial in that first legal battle is delayed as the courts figure out if p trump can be sued for comments he made while he was president. the defamation claims from the more recent lawsuit would not be impacted since trump made those statements after he left office. meantime, she is still hoping for justice. >> total jail time. total jail time for the rest of his life. absolutely. >> randi kaye, cnn. i'm joined by cnn legal analyst joey jackson. what does this mean for the evidence that, you know, is admissible, burden of proof? >> there are differences between civil and criminal. in a criminal case, you're talking about criminality, you're talking about jail. you're talking about the prospect of losing your liberty. in a civil case, it's about monetary damages. >> when she talks about jail time, that's not on the table?

>> that's not on the table with respect to this. perhaps her notion of justice stemmed if the other cases that they're going after mr. trump about, but not this case. there is it no jail no matter what happens. to the point about burden of proof in, criminal cases, very high standard. beyond a reasonable doubt. this is not criminal. it is civil. so what does that mean? it means it's something called a preponderance of evidence. in english, what that means is more likely than not. 51% versus 49% that it happened. then that it did not happen. but at the end of the day, the determination of the jury will be one of battery. that is a touching without consent. that is the rape allegation. and then, of course, the defamation allegation with respect to mr. trump saying it did not happen when, in fact, she believes it did. d that's what this lawsuit is all about. >> so if they -- they can't have -- they can't say that rape did not occur but that he defamed her. >> correct. right. it is inconsistent. the whole notion and the whole theory is the fact that she

believes that in this department store back in the 90s that he, in fact, raped her. and that's a battery. so, if you believe that, then you also have to believe that it's defamation to suggest that it never happened. and those are the issues we're dealing with. >> the jury is going to see the "access hollywood" tape. is that -- i mean, how is that going to impact this? >> with respect to the evidence, i'll tell what you i'm looking for. there are a couple of things. the first thing is recent outcry witnesses. what are those? when something happens to an individual, there may not be other people that are immediately right there, but at some point you go and you say i can't believe, right, what so and so did to me. >> the fact she has one or two people who she ended up and on that very day she talked to one. >> correct. two people she gave the indication this happened. one said go to the police. another said, look, trump is strong. i would not even think about it. that's not the only thing i'm looking for. you mentioned the "access hollywood" tape. the judge said it is relevant.

you have admitted mr. trump that you would do this. and, therefore, we're going to allow it in. what else may be powerful? the judge is allowing two other witness who's have alleged that mr. trump indeed groped them and so that's going to be relevant to the issue of you did this then. so those are witness that's are not witnesses to that event but they're witnesses to the modous open ron die that is the argument he engaged in. the. >> joe jackson, thank you. up next, a senior fired fox producer is saying about tucker carlson, his exit may be partially related to her lawsuit. that's it. miracle-e-gro. all you need to know to grgrow.

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new allegation there's are recordings that should have been provided in the dominion voting systems case against fox. that's what abby grossberg who once worked with tucker carlson who was fired yesterday is saying. a reminder that grossberg filed two lawsuits against fox and says she was let go for it. she accuses fox of promoting a hostile work environment with claims of rampant sexism among car carlson's show team. that is one of the reasons that karlsson was fired yesterday. grossberg claims she was pressured to give misleading comments in the dominion case. she told msnbc she has recordings from the devices and claims dominion said they didn't have them. >> i had several recordings that i'm still going through that we recovered from all of the phones. there are 90. that we have. >> 90 recordings, not long after that her attorneys speaking on msnbc said that jack smith, the

special counsel, launched the recordings. fox spokesperson previously said that grossberg's lawsuits are riddled with false allegations against the network and our employees. we want to get perspective on this and what it means for broader media landscape without tucker carlson in it. david, good to have you on. do you have a sense of how much of a role if any abby grossberg's allegations may have played in tucker carlson's o ouster. is it clear why he was fired? >> it's not clear why he was fired. i think really this story has such large cultural reverberations for it that we should be careful. we shouldn't say this is why it happened. there's been so much of that, anderson, in the last couple days. and purposely in the piece i wrote for cnn i pulled back from that. but if you look at history, there is some indication here that this culture is still in

place. the culture of sexism really a culture that debases women was built into the dna of fox news by roger ails, the founder, you know, the master propagandist who founded this. we saw it down the line in bill o'reilly. fox talked about as if they skies sk got rid of the this cancer when they got rid of bill o'reilly, the host. that was dramatic. even cutting off the head with ails and then o'reilly, you don't change a culture overnight. i wrote at the time, this is like a cancer at the heart of fox news internally. and they really have to make a serious systematic attempt to eradicate it. if her allegations are true, anderson, they didn't do much about it at all. >> you covered tucker carlson

for many years. is it clear to you how or even why this -- his persona became what it did? i mean, was he always in this for the money and he was just reading the tea leaves of where the, you know, following the money to where he thought the audience was and it was very financially lucrative for him. i talked to paul last night who used to work with carlson on crossfire. he said back then carlson was contrarian, didn't liked to be managed. the fox version of him is not the person he knew way back then. >> well, you know, i think it's always hard to figure out whether someone is manipulating the system or being atseduced a manipulated by it. i think that wasn't always the way that carlson was. i would agree with begala about that. it was the man meeting the moment. when he got that show at fox, we had the asent of donald trump. i think he saw what trump did.

how trump used trans gresive behavior and outrage to gather attention to himself, to control the media. i mean, you know, i wrestle with a million columns about how do we cover this guy? we cant keep covering thim when he says things that are not true. we never figured out how to cover. and just as trump did in the political realm, by going where no one else would go, saying horrible things, insulting people in horrible ways, saying racist stuff, tucker carlson did the same thing in the media realm, like when he said that immigrant -- he suggested that immigrants make us dirtier as a nation. that's a racist statement that's just outrageous. i can't think of any mainstream journalist who would even want to think that let alone say it. but he said it. he gets enormous coverage. his ratings -- he feeds the base of his far right further and further out there audience.

and it looks like he, quote, owns the libs. >> the level of hypocrisy of him saying he, you know, thinks -- he hates donald trump. he can't wait until he doesn't have to cover him. they're almost there. they don't have to have him on. they don't have to talk about him every night. i mean, it's just so hypocritical to be saying one thing privately and saying something else on air. it's just stunning. >> anderson, you and me and intellectual people who are consistent and honest, the hypocrisy makes you gag. but in the world he operated in, somehow in his mind -- you know again, i don't know. but i think, you know, it's easy to get seduced by the power. every time you go out there and say certain things you get great feedback. you know? i think he got caught up in that a little bit. i think in some ways he got caught up in it and hoisted on his own -- >> there's no greater reminder

of how perilous one is than quickly being fired and zipping off the screen and, you know, then seeing how different the world is. david, appreciate it. thank you. coming up, protests erupt in montana after transgender state lawmaker zooey zephyr silenced after speaking out against a bill that would ban gender affirming medical care for transgender minors. she joins me next. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's ans everything to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ conol is everything to me. ♪

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seven people arrested in the state house in montana after protesting in support of montana state representative zooey zephyr. the first openly transgender woman elected to montana's legislature. [ chanting ] >> zephyr's been kept from speaking on the house floor after comments she made last week in response to a bill that would ban gender affirming medical care for transgender minors much here's some of what she said. >> if you're forcing a transchild to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture. this body should be ashamed. only thing i will say is if you vote yes on this bill, and yes on the amendments, i hope the next time there is an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer you see the blood on your hands. >> republican lawmakers demanded

the zephyr be censured for using inappropriate and uncalled for language. state representative zephyr joins me now. representative, thank you for being us with. have you been formally reprimanded or told what specific house rule you violated that led to all this? >> i have not been formally reprimanded when i spoke of the majority leader stood up and objected much like minority leader does when they say something we say exception to. but nothing happened. and then on thursday, the speaker informed me he would longer be recognizing me because i broke decorum. >> i want to play a clip of something that republican speaker of the state house said today and let you react to it. >> headlines that have happened over the last week stating that montana house leadership or gop has censored anyone is false. currently all representatives

are free to participate in house debates well following the house rules. the choice to not follow house rules is one that representative zephyr made. the only person silencing representative zephyr is representative zephyr. the montana house will not be bullied. all 100 representatives will continue to be treated the same. >> what is your response to that? >> you know, i would say i am punching in on the bills i'm ready to speak on. and speaker is deciding no the to recognize me. i think it's important to acknowledge that we have had people in that body on the other side who have screamed in their closing arguments who have equated my very existence to somehow sexualizing children and yet the speaker allows them to go forward. so we're seeing a very undemocratic application of what it means to have decorum.

i will say i rise in support of my community and my constituents every time i speak. >> the house speaker is also said that if you apologize for your comments, he would allow you to speak again. do you have any plans to apologize? >> when i spoke on senate bill 99, i spoke about the very real harm that these bills cause. for example, there was a young transteen who attempted suicide and when her mother found her, she had one of the hearings, one of the anti-trans hearings on the computer. i see the real harm the bills bring and the death thez could lead. to i stand by it holding the republicans accountable for their policies. >> can you explain why, i mean, you say that not allowing a minor who feels they're transgender to get gender affirming treatment or care, can you explain why that is torture.

and then you're saying the republicans have blood on their hands. how can you -- how it is torture? >> so, i know being a trans, i know the joy that comes when you're trans and you get to finally live fully as yourself and you good tote walk through your daily world with the joy and purpose that i would not have had possible if it were not for my transition. we know data wise there is a 73% reduction in suicide when transyouth access care. again, care approved for, approved by every major medical association in the country. if you rob people of the medical care they need to live joyful and fulfilling lives, if you don't allow them to have access to that, you're putting them in a position where they're going to be in dire straits. >> representsive zephyr, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> still ahead, new changes coming to the ap african american studies course that provoked push back from conservatives, notably ron

desantis. now the college board is doubling down on the curriculum vowing to ensure the updated framework will give the most holistic introduction to african american studies. we'll go inside a classroom to see what actually is being taught next. shake 'n feed. that's it. miracle-gro. all you need to know to grow.

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tonight new details from the controversy around the ap african-american studies course. the college board across the country is making changes to the curriculum, which sparked criticism from florida governor ron desantis and other conservatives. the board was engaged in a very public dispute with desantis in the florida department of education which rejected a preliminary pilot version of the class saying it, quote, lacks educational value. the board released a statement yesterday pushing back saying they're committed to providing a, quote, inflinching encounter with the facts and evidence of african-american history and culture. pilot version of the course is currently being offered in dozens of high schools across the country. and the board says it will expand to 800 schools and 16,000 students in the next school year. cnn's ed lavandera went to a school in tulsa, oklahoma, to see what is actually being taught. here is his report. >> we need paper. we need our pencils.

>> reporter: darren williams is taking these students on a journey through black history of the early 20th century. >> the great migration. renaissance and jazz. >> reporter: williams is teaching the inaugural course in ap african-american studies at mcclain high school in tulsa, oklahoma. alongside teaching a second class. >> all these folks are going to be in their own ways documenting creating black culture. >> mclean is just one of 60 schools in 33 states across the country teaching this new ap class. >> their culture now begins to take a different shape. and it causes a rebirth of african-american society in harlem, new york. >> reporter: mclean high school is located in a city where the lessons of black history were long hidden. here along the street, all of these plaques mark where businesses once stood. >> there would be banks.

there would be grocery stores. >> reporter: we walked with mr. williams and ms. hall in the historic greenwood neighborhood of tulsa, the site of one of the worst race massacres in u.s. history. a once-thriving black community known as black wall street, it was burned to the ground in 1921 and as many as 300 residents were murdered by a white mob. >> and there's generations and generations of oklahoma residents who were never told about this? >> yeah. it was history that was hidden. >> reporter: what does teaching this class mean to you? >> i want students to know that african-american history is american history. it is world history. >> we're there to make sure we're educating our students. we are being a force for them. >> reporter: but the ap african-american studies class has drawn criticism like republican ron desantis who rejected the class in florida. >> we believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don't believe they should have

an agenda imposed on them. >> reporter: the college board which sets the curriculum made some changes to the course for the state's consideration but also says the political criticism has moved from healthy debate to misinformation. >> good morning, good morning. >> reporter: mclain high school principal said she jumped at the chance to run this pilot program. he worked at this predominantly black high school for eight years and says her school needs this class. >> florida has banned this class. do you worry the same can happen here? >> i try very hard not to live in that place. the optimist in me says no, but the realist in me says of course i'm fearful. of course i am. >> how come blues and jazz are not the same thing? blues is jazz's mother. >> reporter: students say the class has brought history to life in a way they've never experienced before. >> i feel like if we embraced it, we would be more together. we would be more understanding. >> we learn about way more people, not just martin luther

king, rosa parks, malcolm x, we learn way more about slaves and all that. >> reporter: do you feel you're the torch bearers, making sure this history doesn't get forgotten? >> you know, our history is important history. we're not trying to indoctrinate or change's people's perspective. the point of history is to get the facts and build your own opinions. >> learning is limited if it's only intellectual enterprise. it doesn't get to the place of the feeling of the emotion. it has not done everything that it can do with us. so the feeling is a part of the learning. >> reporter: ed lavandera joins me now. do we know what changes the college board plans to make? >> reporter: the college board hasn't said specifically what will be changed in the class. after the criticism from people like ron desantis in florida, there were some changes having to do with black lives matter, reparations among some several issues. presumably maybe those types of

shiesh us get brought back into the class program. but the officials and the teachers that you heard from in tulsa and the principal at that school say this is a pilot program. they were expecting some sort of changes but the class has been very popular. they offered two classes this year. hoping to move it up to three classes next year. >> thanks. programming tonight, kevin mccarthy races to get votes on his debt ceiling plan, michael smerconish speaks with one of the key holdouts, congressman matt gaetz. we remember the singer, actor harry belafonte.

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(avo) ask your doctor about once-weekly mounjaro. tonight we remember award winning legendary entertainer and trail blazer harry belafonte. the 96-year-old died of congestive heart failure. in the late 1950s the opening line of his hit the banana boat song made him a household name in america. ♪ harry belafonte went on to make more than 40 albums, star in more than 10 movies over 5

decades including carmon jones in 1954, one of the first films with an all-black cast with box office success. his 1957 movie island in the sun was banned in several southern cities due to the film's interracial romance plot. off the stage, belafonte was known for his deep dedication to the civil rights movement and close friends with the reverend martin luther king jr. belafonte helped plan the 1963 march on washington and later out spoken opponent of apartheid in south africa. he came up with the idea of this hit song --. ♪ >> we are the world, brought together many singers, raised more than $63 million for famine relief in ethiopia and other parts of africa. tonight the son of harlem is being memorialized at the famous apollo theater. harry belafonte was 96 years old. cnn primetime with michael smerconish