Two children of color were made to stand up as the class discussed their physical attributes at Margaret A. Neary School in Southborough, Mass., the superintendent said.
A teacher in Massachusetts has been placed on leave for holding a mock slave auction during a history lesson and using a racial slur in a fifth-grade classroom, bringing fresh attention to how slavery is taught in U.S. schools.
The incidents occurred this year at the Margaret A. Neary Elementary School in Southborough, Superintendent Gregory L. Martineau said in a letter to parents.
The teacher, who is not identified in the letter, held “an impromptu slave auction” in January where two children of color were made to stand as the class discussed their physical attributes, the letter said. The incident happened during a history lesson on the economy of Southern colonies.
“Simulations or role plays when teaching about historical atrocities or trauma are not appropriate, and these teaching methods are not to be used,” Martineau wrote, adding that students of color are disproportionately impacted by such “unsound” teaching methods.
A report by the Southern Poverty Law Center published in 2018 on the challenges of teaching the history of slavery in the United States identified simulations as part of the problem.
Such techniques, the report said, “cannot begin to convey the horror of slavery and risk trivializing the subject in the minds of students.”
But similar incidents have been reported in recent years from multiple states. In North Carolina, a Black student was “sold” for $350 during a mock slave auction at a majority-White school in 2022. A fifth-grade teacher in New York state in 2019 instructed Black students to raise their hands and placed the students in imaginary chains before proceeding to conduct a mock auction in class.
The Massachusetts teacher also used the n-word in a fifth-grade classroom in April while reading and discussing a book that was not included in the school’s curriculum, superintendent Martineau said in the letter. The book also did not contain the n-word, according to Martineau’s letter. After the matter was brought to the school’s attention, the teacher called out the student who reported the incident in class, which Martineau said was “not acceptable.”
Shortly after, the Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough launched an investigation and put the educator on paid leave, the letter said, adding that personnel matters will remain confidential. The school’s principal was also put on 10-day administrative leave in May.
Martineau apologized to the parents and acknowledged “missteps.” The school will implement a series of reforms, he said, including a professional development plan focusing on culturally competent teaching methods.
“Many American schools and educators continue to have difficulty teaching the history of American slavery in an empathetic and sensitive way because our nation has not reckoned with this history in any meaningful way,” said Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, a professor of history at University of California at Berkeley.
The teaching of the history of slavery, she added, has come under attack from some politicians who have sought to limit the content or legislate the ways it can be taught.
It is not surprising, she said, that “some educators either take their cue from these individuals or choose to teach the history of slavery in ways that neglect its traumatic impact on African Americans, especially children.”
