What the heck is up with Ohio schools?

[Terabith]

My oldest is a freshman in college and taking a January term class.  Someone from Ohio told about an annual event where high school kids went on this field trip and pretend to be slaves, and the overseer shoots blanks at them and some are marked to be killed in this re-enactment.  And then several other students from Ohio were like, “Oh yeah, we went there too.”  And I am like…um, actually I can’t say what I said here.  
 

Is this common?  Is it normal for the area? Has nobody raised any objections to the myriad problems with this activity?

[gardenmom5]

Blink blink blink . . . do ALL the students get a turn being the overseer shooting the runaways?  (and ALL the students get turns being shot)

[Storygirl]

I grew up in Ohio, and my kids are in public school here. Never heard of this happening.

[Terabith]

3 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

Blink blink blink . . . do ALL the students get a turn being the overseer shooting the runaways?  (and ALL the students get turns being shot)

I got the impression the overseer was an employee or adult.  But that’s the sun total of my knowledge.  Second hand stories from my oldest’s class. 

[Arcadia]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/08/06/conner-prairie-slavery-re-enactment-draws-criticism/82987036/
“The man was an actor, pretending to be a slave master of a group of eighth-grade students who were playing the role of slaves being illegally sold from Kentucky to Indiana. The students were participating in an award-winning program called Follow the North Star at Conner Prairie, an interactive history park in Fishers. Through character re-enactments, students as young as 12 learn about slavery and the Underground Railroad, the network of secret routes and safe houses that slaves used in the 1800s to escape the South for northern states and Canada.

Conner Prairie representatives said the experience fosters empathy and encourages participants to have conversations about issues in their own lives that they might not otherwise have.

But the 18-year-old program and others like it are drawing criticism from parents, academics and the American Civil Liberties Union, who say such re-enactments present a sanitized version of history, lack depth in connecting the impact of slavery to present day race relations and can traumatize children, specifically children of color.

Some organizations have ended their programs after complaints surfaced.”

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/there-camps-ohio-reenactment-activities-underground-railroad-100695.html
“Camp Joy

Camp Joy (camp-joy.org), a camp for underserved children, including those from low-income families, those in the care of Children’s Services and children with medical conditions, has been providing outdoor experiences in Clarksville, Ohio, since 1938. Camp Joy hosts a yearly Underground Railroad reenactment, with staff taking on historical roles, such as abolitionists and plantation owners, while the kids play the role of the escaping slaves. The event is held in the evening during the annual summer camp.”

[gardenmom5]

25 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I got the impression the overseer was an employee or adult.  But that’s the sun total of my knowledge.  Second hand stories from my oldest’s class. 

just . . . wow.

[Storygirl]

6 hours ago, Arcadia said:

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/08/06/conner-prairie-slavery-re-enactment-draws-criticism/82987036/
“The man was an actor, pretending to be a slave master of a group of eighth-grade students who were playing the role of slaves being illegally sold from Kentucky to Indiana. The students were participating in an award-winning program called Follow the North Star at Conner Prairie, an interactive history park in Fishers. Through character re-enactments, students as young as 12 learn about slavery and the Underground Railroad, the network of secret routes and safe houses that slaves used in the 1800s to escape the South for northern states and Canada.

Conner Prairie representatives said the experience fosters empathy and encourages participants to have conversations about issues in their own lives that they might not otherwise have.

But the 18-year-old program and others like it are drawing criticism from parents, academics and the American Civil Liberties Union, who say such re-enactments present a sanitized version of history, lack depth in connecting the impact of slavery to present day race relations and can traumatize children, specifically children of color.

Some organizations have ended their programs after complaints surfaced.”

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/there-camps-ohio-reenactment-activities-underground-railroad-100695.html
“Camp Joy

Camp Joy (camp-joy.org), a camp for underserved children, including those from low-income families, those in the care of Children’s Services and children with medical conditions, has been providing outdoor experiences in Clarksville, Ohio, since 1938. Camp Joy hosts a yearly Underground Railroad reenactment, with staff taking on historical roles, such as abolitionists and plantation owners, while the kids play the role of the escaping slaves. The event is held in the evening during the annual summer camp.”

That first news article is from Indiana, not Ohio. The article does say the program was based on one from Ohio but doesn't describe the Ohio program.

But this is really not an Ohio thing. Ohio students do not all go through programs like this.

The second article is about historical places with Underground Railroad tours. It's part of Ohio history. None of the blurbs mention being threatened with guns or shot at.

 

[Terabith]

50 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

That first news article is from Indiana, not Ohio. The article does say the program was based on one from Ohio but doesn't describe the Ohio program.

But this is really not an Ohio thing. Ohio students do not all go through programs like this.

The second article is about historical places with Underground Railroad tours. It's part of Ohio history. None of the blurbs mention being threatened with guns or shot at.

 

Yeah, tours of the Underground Railroad seem completely appropriate.  The described program with children pretending to be slaves seems horrific, especially for kids of color.  

[cintinative]

I've lived in Ohio my whole life and went to public school. I have many friends with kids in public school, including friends who work at Camp Joy. I have never, ever heard of this.

[mom2scouts]

I know of a historical place in Ohio that used to do this. I'm not sure if it's still done or not.

[SKL]

Not common, no.  I have heard of controversial things like that happening here and there around the country.  People don't think things through.

[SKL]

And yes, we are proud of our Underground Railway history.  🙂

[shawthorne44]

Wellllll, the Story of the World activity book did suggest the same thing as an option.  When I read that in the book, I thought to myself No No No NO.    I'm not criticizing WTM since I know that the book makes lots of suggestions and expects people to pick what works for them.    But it does show that the idea isn't ridiculously far out.  

[SKL]

4 minutes ago, shawthorne44 said:

Wellllll, the Story of the World activity book did suggest the same thing as an option.  When I read that in the book, I thought to myself No No No NO.    I'm not criticizing WTM since I know that the book makes lots of suggestions and expects people to pick what works for them.    But it does show that the idea isn't ridiculously far out.

Interesting.  I gave up on SOTW on the first day, because its opening base is the individual child's personal history being born into his family/culture, which doesn't work at all for internationally adopted kids.  😛  No shade on WTM, it just wouldn't work for us.

[Roadrunner]

I am still trying to understand massive civil war reenactments. 🤷‍♀️
 

[QueenCat]

8 hours ago, Terabith said:

My oldest is a freshman in college and taking a January term class.  Someone from Ohio told about an annual event where high school kids went on this field trip and pretend to be slaves, and the overseer shoots blanks at them and some are marked to be killed in this re-enactment.  And then several other students from Ohio were like, “Oh yeah, we went there too.”  And I am like…um, actually I can’t say what I said here.  
 

Is this common?  Is it normal for the area? Has nobody raised any objections to the myriad problems with this activity?

I have never heard anything like that in my part of Ohio. 

[QueenCat]

1 hour ago, Storygirl said:

The second article is about historical places with Underground Railroad tours. It's part of Ohio history. None of the blurbs mention being threatened with guns or shot at.

 

Right! The Underground Railroad is a HUGE part of Ohio history. Our town is well-known for having safe houses, with underground tunnels, for those fleeing slavery.

[Faith-manor]

3 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I am still trying to understand massive civil war reenactments. 🤷‍♀️
 

Me too. I have a hard time with this one.

[QueenCat]

4 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I am still trying to understand massive civil war reenactments. 🤷‍♀️
 

Same. They were a big deal when we lived in TN. Just didn't get it. 

[Acorn]

I know a young adult who attended Camp Joy in Ohio while in middle school. I was shocked at their description at the time. The students did have a way to signal participating or observing but it did seem awful. I know that other parks and camps in OH and IN had Underground Railway experiences in the 80-90s before I moved here. I don’t know the quality or level of terror at those events. I did however have a coworker who wanted to reintroduce the topic for current programming. I don’t know if she wanted reenactment programs or history of the area hike, but no one was willing to discuss. 

[Faith-manor]

I am really not a fan of "pretending to torture or kill" programs of any kind. I don't think any parent sends their kid to school hoping they will be "taught" a fact by way of panic attack. On top of which, kids in school have enough anxiety without something like this. Why can't common sense be exercised? Oh wait. Right. Commons sense is so rare these days it is practically a super power.

[Farrar]

I'm as horrified as anyone that this would still be going on... but not at all shocked that it would have been done. And done with good intentions (even if it was never a good idea). Our concept of how to learn about slavery and more broadly about oppression has just changed a ton in the last two or three decades. 

[shawthorne44]

2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

I am still trying to understand massive civil war reenactments. 🤷‍♀️
 

Apparently, in Germany reenacting traditional Native America life is a thing.   I used to have a coworker that did that.  My first question was, "Do you have any woman participating?"   Answer, "No, not for long."   

[saraha]

2 hours ago, QueenCat said:

Right! The Underground Railroad is a HUGE part of Ohio history. Our town is well-known for having safe houses, with underground tunnels, for those fleeing slavery.

The law office where my dd interned proudly displays the “hidden room” where slaves hid. The building was originally a bank and the room was behind the vault. Someone had removed the vault when it became a private residence but left the hidden room. We are deep in Underground Railroad/ U.S. Grant’s childhood home territory. During “Grant Days” they reenact Morgan’s raid on our town, but I have never, ever heard of slave re-enactments, with it without children

[QueenCat]

3 hours ago, saraha said:

The law office where my dd interned proudly displays the “hidden room” where slaves hid. The building was originally a bank and the room was behind the vault. Someone had removed the vault when it became a private residence but left the hidden room. We are deep in Underground Railroad/ U.S. Grant’s childhood home territory. During “Grant Days” they reenact Morgan’s raid on our town, but I have never, ever heard of slave re-enactments, with it without children

Then you aren't too terribly far from me.

[Terabith]

5 hours ago, Farrar said:

I'm as horrified as anyone that this would still be going on... but not at all shocked that it would have been done. And done with good intentions (even if it was never a good idea). Our concept of how to learn about slavery and more broadly about oppression has just changed a ton in the last two or three decades. 

Yeah, but my kid is a college freshman. If this happened in high school, that’s pretty darn recent history, even if some of their classmates are a couple years older.  

[Farrar]

57 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Yeah, but my kid is a college freshman. If this happened in high school, that’s pretty darn recent history, even if some of their classmates are a couple years older.  

Some people haven’t gotten the memo, I guess. I wonder how common it actually is. Replies in this thread seem to suggest this was a coincidence. And there was a definite sea change after 2020. These college sophomores or juniors could have easily done this as 8th graders, so six or seven years ago. Not ancient history, but still.

[QueenCat]

There was a similar incident in Loudoun County, Virginia a few  years ago. It was at the school my sister taught at. It made national news. 

[Momto6inIN]

I participated in the linked above event at Conner Prairie in Indiana in approx 2013 or 2014 with my teen kids. It was very eye opening and included a "debriefing" session afterwards where we explored our (temporary and mild) feelings of powerlessness and how that might translate to the modern experience of racism (long lasting and definitely not mild). I think it did help me and my teens develop more empathy and compassion and recognize our privilege a little bit more as well as deepen our historical understanding of how the Underground Railroad worked.

From my understanding at the time, both the experience itself and debriefing session had been vetted and approved by local civil rights and African American groups as being worthwhile and appropriate, although I understand that of course not all African Americans and other civil rights activists will necessarily agree. But it's not like a bunch of white people just suddenly decided to charge people to "play slave" with no thought to the consequences; there is quite a bit more nuance to it than that.

I'm not really interested in arguing about it or defending myself, although if any of you have any non-confrontational comments or questions I'd be glad to respond. And I'm not really sure if I would participate in this type of program again or not. I just wanted to input some context.

I don't know anything about the Ohio program.