Black Kids on Class Trip from Rea View Elementary in Union County, NC, Asked to Play Slaves Picking Cotton During History Lesson at Plantation

A controversial history lesson at Rea View Elementary school in Union County, North Carolina, has left parents and teachers upset. The teachers plan to write letters to leaders at the historic Latta Plantation about their disapproval of a hands-on history lesson during a class trip Wednesday. What irked the students and teachers? Tour guide Ian Campbell made black students pretend to be slaves in front of their white classmates. He picked out the black kids to play slaves picking cotton. Whether it was an innocent act on his part or not, it was insulting, to say the least. Sorry, but in case Mr. Campbell hasn't noticed, there is lingering bitterness about that horrific chapter in America's history.

Campbell said he's been a historian for more than 15 years. "I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did things in 1860, 1861, even before that period."

One parent said Campbell took his enthusiasm too far when he picked three black elementary school children out of a group of mostly white students to play the role of cotton picking slaves during a his hands-on history lesson. The parent says the students were also made to wear bags used to gather cotton around their necks. Campbell said, "I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct." Source: WSBTV

How can we move into a post racial America when we have incidents such as this occurring? Campbell defends his actions, but said that in the future
he will take a different approach.