Junior High History Lesson: Create a Business Plan for Enslaving Africans

Junior High History Lesson: Create a Business Plan for Enslaving Africans


A girls’ school in London, England was forced to issue an apology over the use of offensive material during a high school history lesson on “The Slave Trade.”

Students aged 13 and 14 received imaginary tools including manacles, whips, thumb screws, iron brands, muskets and barracoons, and were asked to devise a  business proposal for the capture and enslavement of Africans. Lesson materials included directions on how to carry out a “slave raid” and manipulate “African Chiefs” through bribes and alcohol.

One 13 year old black girl complained to her mother about the humiliation she felt during the class. Her mother met with teachers who at first tried to justify the approach of the class. They said that the particular lesson had been taught for three years without objection and it emphasized how the slave trade was  “divorced from moral and social issues.”

Read more at Clutch.

 


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