Kids instructed to pick cotton, sing 'slave songs' on school excursion

26 February 2019 - 07:23 By Odwa Mjo
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
School children were made to pick cotton and sing 'slave songs' during a school trip.
School children were made to pick cotton and sing 'slave songs' during a school trip.
Image: via Twitter/@AmerHoy

Fifth-graders in South Carolina, US, were instructed to pick cotton and sing 'slave songs' on a field trip at a historical schoolhouse.  

Huffington Post reported that a school district in South Carolina had to apologise after parents and members of the community were outraged over footage of the learners picking cotton and singing 'slave songs'.

According to Fox 46, the learners were made to sing "I like it when you pick like that. I like it when you fill your sack. I like it when you don't talk back. Make money for me."

Whoever picked the least cotton would have to carry a sack that read "Big Mama." 

Last week a school in Virginia, US, received backlash for making students participate in Black History Month gym class activities which included escaping through what was meant to be the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes used by African American slaves to escape to the free states, Huffington post reported.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now