Missouri teacher on leave for troubling slave trade assignment

Students were asked to imagine they owned a plantation

OAKVILLE, Mo. – A Missouri elementary school teacher was placed on administrative leave after giving students a troubling assignment.

A question on the assignment asked students to imagine they own a plantation and are seeking new workers to work the field.

Angela Walker, one of the student’s parent, was shocked to see what her biracial son was working on.

“There is no value to playing a game about slavery,” Walker said. “We have to be more culturally sensitive, we do.”

The question reads:

“You own a plantation or farm and therefore need more workers. You begin to get involved in the slave trade industry and have more slaves work on your farm. Your product to trade is slaves.”

The question then asks students to set a price for a slave. The question was among 12 that Blades Elementary School principal Jeremy Booker said, “attempted to address market practices."

The district superintendent apologized for the assignment and the NAACP said that educators should be more sensitive when dealing with slavery and has offered to work with the district on cultural training.