School Assignment Draws Flak, Slave Letter Writing Task To Students Scorned

A middle school over in Mississippi sparked controversy after students composed mostly of white students were asked to do a slave letter-writing assignment. The task required students at the Purvis Middle School in Lamar County to pretend as slaves and write a letter back to Africa describing their life.

Aside from that, the eighth graders were also asked to talk about how they would pass their time when they were not working, the Daily Beast reported. Activists have come out and branded the task as humiliating and demoralizing. A screenshot of the task was shared over social media.

Since it came out, several people expressed their opinion on the task. Some called it extremely tone-deaf and inappropriate while others questioned how a logical person would teach it to students.

“There are proper ways to educate students about the history of this nation. This was not one of them,” Jarrius Adams, president of Young Democrats Mississippi said.

The school principal, Frank Bunnell explained that the assignment was part of an eighth-grade history lesson. He apologized for it since it occurred under his watch.

However, Bunnell would later add that the backlash may have taken the assignment out of context.

“A person could read just the assignment and draw a very unrealistic view of the true tragedies that occurred,” he said.

Lamar County School District Superintendent Dr. Steven Hampton also added that the goal of the assignment was to show our students just how horrible slavery was and to gain empathy for what it was like to be a slave.

Roughly 50 percent of students attending Mississippi public schools are black. But as far as Purvis middle school is concerned, there are only around 12% of students who are black and over 80% are white.

“If I were a parent of a student in the classroom I would be pissed,” Adams said. “There are proper ways to educate students about the history of this nation. This was not one of them,” Jarrius Adams, president of Young Democrats Mississippi stated.