Parents of fifth graders at a New Jersey school grew upset over a slave auction poster assignment. They slammed the school on social media and also insisted on meeting with the teachers to discuss the project.
The posters were part of the students' lessons about Colonial America at the South Mountain Elementary School. This was in the curriculum for at least a decade. The school asked the kids to create different advertisements in relation to the colonial period and one of the suggestions included the slave auction posters.
One poster had a drawing of a 12-year-old girl named Anne, depicted as a "fine housegirl." Another poster advertised about slaves in exchange for cash.
The school displayed the posters in the hallways, according to ABC7 New York. Following the parents' criticisms, however, the school decided to take down the said posters from the school premises.
"Educating young students on the harsh realities of slavery is of course not the issue here, but the medium for said education is grossly insensitive and negligent," a parent wrote on Facebook. The post received over a hundred comments from mostly appalled parents.
Superintendent John J. Ramos Sr. of the South Orange Maplewood School District (SOMSD) emailed the school about the complaints from parents. As advised by an anti-bias expert who was consulted on the matter, Ramos said teaching the students about the "uglier parts" of America's history was important. Only, the school failed to put up an explanation when it displayed the posters in public, as per Tapinto.
School principal Alyna Jacobs issued an apology to the parents for "any unintended pain, anger or offense caused by the assignment," BBC reported. The school district will still deliberate over removing or retaining this project from the curriculum for the next batches of students. The school will also set up a town hall meeting with the parents.
