School Assigned Students A Project About ‘African Animals’

Parents are speaking out after their children were assigned a project about “African animals” for Black History Month.

Three white kindergarten teachers at Sutherland Elementary, a neighborhood Chicago Public School rooted in Beverly, Illinois, thought of a bizarre Black History Month assignment and sent children home with a note that read, “We are celebrating African American History Month in various ways at Sutherland this month. Since our students have a genuine interest in animals and love to learn about them, we are going to take a closer look at African animals.”

According to the Chicago Sun Times, Valeisha Manning, whose 5-year-old attends the school, said, “You’re supposed to be learning about someone’s history and how they provided some type of ongoing fight for equality. Monkeys didn’t help us do that. Giraffes? Elephants? Zebras?

Manning, who is Black, also said, “It’s ignorant and racially insensitive. I do not believe that whomever put this together sat back and said, ‘Okay, let’s subliminally call these people monkeys or animals.’ I just think they were very careless.”

The Chicago Sun Times reports, “dozens” of parents complained on social media. 

Principal Margaret Burns, who is white, apologized for the “insensitive and inappropriate” project. She claimed she hadn’t seen the assignment and it has now been canceled. She also sent out a letter that read in part, “We apologize for any concerns or offense this may have brought to our parents and assure our families that administration will be working closely with our team to ensure that our future assignments are reflective of our principles of equity and our commitment to our diverse and inclusive community.”

CBS reported, “CPS (Chicago Public Schools) has not said if the teachers who came up with the assignment have been reprimanded or face disciplinary actions.

That said, the school district has a larger issue of diversity. The students in the school district are 36% Black, 47% Latino, 4%  Asian and 11% white. However, 50% of the teachers are white and only 21% are Black.

The Chicago Sun Times reports a CPS spokeswoman “cited student privacy laws in declining to comment about the incidents.”