[lowbridge]

Related thread: Student: Conn. Class Forced to Re-Enact Slavery

[Paladin2]

Nothing like prepping kids to be voter/tax slaves.

[Smokin' Joe]

Aside from the child abuse, I have real trouble with the general presumption that all slaves were abused. Uncle Tom's Cabin was a fricking NOVEL, not a documentary. We have novels today where people routinely do things which are far more criminal in nature than real life.

Think about it. If you spend all night chasing the slaves through the woods and beating them, how are you going to get the crops in?

Aside from representing a substantial investment, only a slave in good health, well rested, and with reasonably good morale will be productive as a laborer. This implies a far better relationship between the owners and the slaves than revisionist histories would have one believe. Some owners even risked breaking the law to educate their slaves, not out of the goodness of their heart, but because it suited their own purposes.

Some, when freed, took the owner's family name as a surname, with the permission and blessing of the former owners. That does not imply hatred nor animosity.

If the relationship was as fraught with animosity as is commonly now portrayed, there would have been a lot of dead owners out there, and little would have been accomplished.

As for the teachers, sue the sh*t out of them. Slavery has been dead for a century and a half, and child abuse is not justified over the issue.

[AlexW]

While I am not in favor of slavery, and this may sound cruel, but American blacks should learn that it was slavery that gave them life in the USA. Otherwise, they would be in some African hell-hole, chucking spears.
For white Americans it led to something of an unintended travesty.

[sten]

just trying to insure racial issues for the next generation

meanwhile, did they reenact Indians scalping any whites? how about commies rounding up capitalists for extermination camps? how about giving girls little ‘babies’ (dolls) to be under their shirt... then have the chinese kids run over, ripe the doll from the ‘mother’ and kill it in front of her?

so many ‘learning’ opportunities... I’m just scratching the surface

[The_Media_never_lie]

This three hour exercise was designed to teach the young to hate.

[Gene Eric]

At least they didn’t model an abortion clinic.

[NautiNurse]

How interesting that this annual slavery ritual occurs in two New England states. If this had occurred in SC, AL or MS, enlightened liberal New England residents would be screaming from their rooftops and Congress critters would have legislated a ban on the activities.

[tarpit]

The notion that nobody has complained in the past, as justification for future events, seems short sighted at best. There was obviously a disconnect between expectation, though I reserve further commentary until after discovery.

[Islander7]

I have long wondered how many of the 'old money' families in New England have ties to the slave trade. There was a colonial era slave market in Boston and Massachusetts was the first slave-holding colony in New England. Never hear that mentioned.

[machogirl]

First Slaves in America. (worth less than the African slaves)

[grania]

I've been thinking about this one. Parents have to sign permission slips for children to participate in field trips. If they signed something that said it was an inter-active experience to learn about slavery (or something like that), the school is okay. If the school described the program incorrectly or inadequately or didn't have permission slips, then the parents have a gripe.

If the parents signed the permission, they should shut up and learn from it. PS: I'm not a fan of school field trips. Lots of reasons.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Charlton is 97.5 percent white and 0.2 percent black. It has a total of 24 blacks. Possibly six at most are students. Sounds like the parent(s) must be of one child.