Black History Month teaching Aid sparks Controversy

A teacher at West Charlotte High School in the US state of North Carolina has stirred up controversy over her usual choice of Black history month classroom decoration.

She separately labelled her classroom entrance doors ‘white’ and ‘coloured’ to depict how public stores, not to mention fountains, bathrooms, transportation, entertainment venues and other entities were segregated during the Jim Crow era.

Some have hailed the controversial decoration as a creative way of highlighting the painful journey of Black people in the US ever since the first ships carrying abducted Africans landed on the shores of the country. However, some insist that the door labels had crossed the line of decency.

At the demand of the local educational board, school authorities have since removed the separate “white” and “coloured” door labels. They claim that the decoration was in violation of the “district’s curriculum and approved lesson plans.”

The educational board also stated, “the school district is required to provide social studies and history lessons to all our students in an age-appropriate manner.” However, such “age-appropriate” discretions were never afforded to newborns, adolescents or youths growing up in the Jim Crow era.