Black elementary students told to act like slaves – in 2009
By Matt Roberts, November 13 (originally posted 11/8) New Orleans News – The Examiner
WAXHAW, N.C. — A history lesson that asked black elementary students to act like slaves has sparked protests from parents and teachers at a North Carolina school Wednesday.
During a field trip to Latta Plantation, three students from Rea View Elementary in Waxhaw were chosen by tour guide Ian Campbell to wear bags and mimic picking cotton while their white classmates looked on, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, reported Friday.
Many of the teachers and parents from the elementary school said they plan on writing the leaders of the plantation regarding the racially insensitive history lesson.
Campbell said “I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct,” Campbell adds, “I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did things in 1860, 1861 — even before that period,” who added he has been a historian for 15 years.
Kojo Nantambu, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, criticized the lesson.
“There is a lingering pain, a lingering bitterness, a lingering insecurity and a lingering sense of inhumanity since slavery. Because that’s still there, you want to be more sensitive than politically correct or historically correct,” he said.
Tags: Education, Racism, Slavery
Black Agenda Report
Your Black World