School takes down slave auction posters they told kids to make – after parent outrage

Parents at South Mountain Elementary School came in for a typical parent-teacher conference last week. But some saw posters in the hallways that disturbed them – partly because the posters were designed by their own children.

Fifth grade students at the New Jersey school were told to design slave auction posters for class and then the school hung them in the hallways, according to a Facebook post by Jamil Karriem, a resident of the area, who included pictures of the posters.

Descriptions on the posters included “3 Men: Aged from 20-26, strong,” and “Anne, aged 12 years a fine house girl.” There were also wanted posters that listed slaves wanted back “dead or alive” and describing them as thieves. It’s unclear how long the posters have been up.

“These images were on display for all students (ages ranging from 4-10) to see, including those that would lack any context of the underlying ‘lesson’ or ‘purpose,’” Karriem wrote in the post. “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. In a curriculum that lacks representation for students of color, it breaks my heart that these will be the images that young black and brown kids see of people with their skin color.”

School officials have apologized for the assignment, according to CNN, and said the purpose was to teach kids about the ugly parts of America’s past. The posters were one of many assignments in a course teaching the students about Colonial America.

“One of the anti-bias experts highlighted the fact that schools all over our country often skip over the more painful aspects of American History, and that we need to do a better job of acknowledging the uglier parts of our past, so that children learn the full story,” Superintendent John J. Ramos, Sr., said in a note, according to NJ.com.

“While it was not our intention, we recognize that the example of a slave auction poster, although historically relevant, was culturally insensitive,” he added to CNN, saying the auction posters would not be included in next year’s lessons. The assignment has been in place for 10 years, according to NJ.com.

Not all parents disagreed with the lesson.

“It’s part of history, of course,” caregiver Andrea Espinoza told WABC. “It happened. I think it’s good that they know.”

The superintendent said the posters should have at least been hung with an explanation of the assignment and that the posters have no been taken down, according to CNN.

This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 8:44 AM with the headline "School takes down slave auction posters they told kids to make – after parent outrage."