Students Told to Create a Business Plan for Enslaving Africans
I am furious. And hurt.
As a historian, it is an honor to have the responsibility of storytelling. Indeed, our history is a collection of stories and a powerful instrument that expresses who we are, what we came from, how we struggle, and how we are strong. So the abuse of this precious privilege always cuts deep.
The education system has long omitted, neglected, distorted and skewed our history through the lens of white privilege and racism. Yet, I was stunned by the level of apathy that was exposed this week when 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 were given imaginary tools including manacles, whips, thumb screws, iron brands, muskets and barracoons, and asked to devise a Dragon’s Den-style (a reality TV show known as Shark Tank in the US) business proposal for the capture and enslavement of African people. Lesson materials included direction on how to carry out a “slave raid” and manipulate “African Chiefs” through bribes and lacing them with alcohol. Perhaps the most debased suggestions were that the “best” aspect of being a slave trader was having “an affair with a beautiful African girl,” and that adult male “mixed race” offspring could be sent to Africa to “run the slave business” while his white father sailed to America.
Teaching the history of enslavement via a business plan model serves to erase violence, oppression and numerous traumatic events such as the systematic rape of black girls and women. The teacher/s involved in this particular lesson plan saw nothing inappropriate or offensive about their methods. Yet, it would be hard to imagine that these same individuals would sanction a history class on the Holocaust that required students to figure out how to exterminate Jewish people. But black genocide is somehow different, less painful, less abhorrent, and thus vulnerable to trivialization. In 1986, Susan Rice (presently the subject of unjust Republican opposition to her potential nomination for the position of Secretary of State) argued that:
The greatest evil in omitting or misrepresenting Black history, literature, and culture in elementary or secondary education is the unmistakable message it sends to the black child. The message is ‘your history, your culture, your language and your literature are insignificant. And so are you.’
The implicit message of this particular history lesson was not lost on one 13 year old black girl, who in a state of distress complained to her mother about the humiliation she felt during the class. The mother soon after met with two teachers who refused to acknowledge the harm caused to her daughter, and instead sought to justify the innovative approach of the class. They, and later a third teacher, argued that the class emphasized how the slave trade was largely “divorced from moral and social issues”, and that it had been taught for three years without objection.
Perhaps if the narrow objectives of this so-called history lesson were a little broader, then these teachers would have understood that the history of black resistance runs deep in our veins. In the face of the school’s dismissal, the student’s mother contacted Pan African Human Rights Organization Ligali, who filed a formal complaint with the school, and subsequent press release.
In a speedy reversal – which the glare of publicity so often precipitates – the principal publicly apologized on behalf of her staff for being “patronizing” and for the “trivialization” of slavery. The lesson materials were immediately withdrawn with a reassurance that “appropriate steps” had been taken in relation to “possible disciplinary action” against the teacher who devised the class.
If disciplinary action is taken, then I hope it is understood that to scapegoat a single teacher is wholly inadequate, as this case exposes far deeper issues of white privilege and institutional racism within education. It is unclear why this particular class went unchallenged for three years, but such incidents remind us that it is not only a personal but a political imperative that we ask our kids “What did you learn in school today?” It is through our history that we recall, lay claim to, and understand both the past and present. And we cannot afford to abdicate our responsibility to monitor, intervene and challenge the educational system.
The lesson would have been just as effective had the assignment been to create business plans to sell cars or clothes or baked goods. How can one justify using any human being as something to be bought and sold? In 2012, how can one justify using the enslavement of Africans to teach a lesson on business ownership? There is no justification. It is, however, another example of the contempt that many still hold towards Blacks.
“I would actually prefer that people ignore it and black folks teach themselves.”
@__A. You read my mind. I was going to post the exact same thing, but you said it perfectly. I went to a predominately white high school, where they chose to teach no black history. My history teachers didn’t even bother to write out a lesson for the topic of Slavery. They just mentioned that it happened and moved on.
It was my parents who decided to put my siblings and I in a Black culture school on Saturdays. They didn’t expect Whitey to teach us about ourselves. Black professors volunteered their time to teach school-aged children Black literature, dance, and history. Those professors were tough because they understood the importance of history and culture! My parents also taught us Black history at home. We were only allowed to read black literature and then had to write reports on the books we read.
I didn’t understand then, but now I appreciate what my parents did. And I will do the same for my daughter. All Black parents should take our history into our own hands and teach it to our children the right way; with compassion and respect. I don’t expect the same people who enslaved us, beat us, and raped us to turn around and acknowledge that what they did was wrong and praise our resilience. Its never going to happen. Those assholes think that our history is a joke.
“Affair” with a beautiful African girl? What an interesting choice of words. I always thought “affair” implied some level of consent… not to be confused with, you know, rape…
Love the way you slipped that little part in about republicans and Susan Rice. Maybe you should also slip in how she was part of the hiding of four dead Americans. And this is disgusting. London has a black population so I don’t know how this was allowed at all for this long!
I don’t know why the Native People’s ever allowed your kind to settle here.
These people show you who they are time and time again, and you refuse to listen and take note. Instead we are always shocked and appalled? Why? It’s ignorance and stupidity on the part of black people to think these people have changed. There plans and feelings towards us have never changed. You are dealing with a group of ppl who lack moral conscience.
Thank you Ashley. I’m tired of people of color being “appalled” or “surprised” by the level of racism committed by these people of Caucasian decent. The physical, mental, spiritual and economic attack on black men and women globally has risen over the last 10 yrs at alarming rate, however we believe the false narrative that someday in the near future racism will be stamped out for good. We need a wake up call and these little incidents are serving as reminders that the struggle is not over.
You will get your answer if you can figure this out. How do you get Black Progressives to De-Colonialize while keeping the face of Colonialism? It could prove difficult for a snake to shed its skin if is doesn’t feel it is safe to do so!