A New Jersey elementary school recently issued an apology to parents outraged about an assignment involving fifth-graders drawing posters for slave auctions, reports ABC 7.
From ABC 7:
The South Orange-Maplewood School District is planning a community meeting to discuss whether the assignment — which asked to students to draw “examples of an event that would occur during (your) assigned colonial time period, including a poster for a lecture, speech, protest or slave auction” — is appropriate for fifth-graders.
…One poster listed the names of available slaves, who included 12-year-old Anne, described as “a fine housegirl.” Another poster says, “All slaves raised on the plantation of John Carter,” and specifies that only cash is accepted.
The posters were called into question after they were observed hanging in the hallway during parent-teacher conferences…”That’s crazy, and I don’t think they should’ve done that,” parent Glenn Conover said. “That’s disrespectful, first of all, to any of the black kids in the school.”
Superintendent John Ramos, Sr. sent a statement to parents on Wednesday, saying the school had removed the offensive posters from its hallways, reports The Huffington Post.
SOURCE: ABC 7, The Huffington Post
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