WHY WE DON’T NEED TO REENACT SLAVERY
Historical reenactments have become a thing now. These “living history” activities are often staged performances that bring history to life for public consumption, under the guise of educational and entertainment purposes.
As a history buff, I can appreciate some of them. However, the trouble with many of these reenactments, especially those used in school systems, is that they are often done at the detriment of the marginalized and oppressed.
In recent times, many schools have made such reenactments a way of teaching history and social studies, as well as engaging the community. One of the most frequent themes for reenactments — apart from the Civil War — is slavery, as in the case of The Chapel School in Westchester, N.Y., where a teacher cast African American students as slaves in a mock “auction.” Another such unfortunate incident took place in an Arizona school, where a teacher reenacted the experiences of the Little Rock Nine by having third graders taunt a black student.
And then, just a few weeks ago, I heard that something similar had happened in Connecticut.
I was talking with an associate, a white college-educated woman who was very proud of her volunteer work at her children’s school. I was intrigued by her active involvement in her child’s school. As a parent, my own involvement in my son’s school included assisting with reading stories to first graders or administering the weekly spelling tests on Friday mornings in elementary school.
She talked about a project that had involved a historical reenactment of the Underground Railroad. She told me some black students were given bracelets for chains and were placed on a mock auction block.
I can’t be sure of the details of what happened, as she was relating a story about something that had happened years ago and I didn’t witness. But I can be sure of her take on it — and my reaction to her lack of sensitivity.
Here it was again, right there in my face, not a story in the newspaper or a news report on television. I stood in silence wondering if I was transposed to the pre-Civil Rights era. As a black woman, a parent and a social worker, I thought of the horror of visualizing black children reenacting the role of slaves. I thought of the potential trauma to the children, and I became anxious just listening to her recall the performance. Flabbergasted, yet conscious of the setting and my career, I channeled my rage using “respectability politics” and pivoted into my social work role. I asked, “Who is going to provide emotional support to the black children in the school?” She continued to talk, not getting my message. “It was so informative. I had no idea the extent of how bad slavery was,” she said.
I walked away, astonished at the lack of awareness and afraid that my anger would be too difficult to
No, it is not OK to reenact slavery or any other oppressive era in history, where black children are asked to play the role of slave so white people can learn about slavery. Not today, tomorrow or ever.
conceal.
I find it difficult to believe that it is possible in 2019 for educators and institutions to believe on any level that it is OK to engage in racist behaviors at the expense of retraumatizing black children in the hopes of educating white children about racism.
The chattel slavery system became the economic engine of the United States from 1619 to 1865 and beyond, making many white Americans very rich on the backs of blacks, through industries such as agriculture (i.e., cotton, tobacco, rice and sugar cane) and construction (i.e., building of homes, universities, hospitals and other institutions they themselves couldn’t use). The slave economy required black people to cook, clean, farm, nurse children and serve as carpenters and stonemasons — all with no financial compensation.
Slaves were the property of their masters and the master had total control over their bodies. It was common for black people to be the subject of medical experiments without anesthesia. Black people were sold in auction like animals. They were forbidden to marry and were separated from their children at birth or shortly thereafter. Children were sold away from parents and families for a lifetime. Child labor began at the toddler stage and adolescents were used as breeding machines through systematic rape.
What about this historical event — this atrocity — would lend itself to its reenactment by educators, parents and community members? How did the school system identify and communicate the educational goals and objectives in the reenactment to the children, particularly the black children? Why are white people continuing to traumatize black children, adults and communities in an effort to deepen their understanding of a horrific historical event? Why are some black people standing by and watching it happen? Why are we so concerned about containing our rage and being respectable?
Could those same understanding be reached through films, books, museum exhibits or some other medium? As a young woman, my mother and I watched the television miniseries “Roots.” When my son was in elementary school, I read books to him, and later, when he was older, we watched and discussed the films “12 Years a Slave” and “Amistad.” Today, there are even more films that can be used to begin a discussion on racism, including the Ava DuVernay documentary “13th” and the recently released biographical film on Harriet Tubman, “Harriet.” Students can visit the African American History Museum in Washington, D. C.
These suggestions are places to begin with the education of white children about slavery. But whatever educators do, it should not under any circumstances involve asking black children to participate in the reenactment of slavery, playing the slave.
The reenactment of slavery is traumatizing individually and collectively for blacks around the world. We don’t need a reenactment to learn about it. We understand it and continue to be traumatized by it through present-day experiences connected residually to slavery — through our collective experience of dead black bodies at the hands of law enforcement. Its impact is felt today and it is passed down to us through generations.
No, it is not OK to reenact slavery or any other oppressive era in history, where black children are asked to play the role of slave so white people can learn about slavery.
Not today, tomorrow or ever.