CBS Boston reports that Mitchell Elementary School in Bridgewater, Massachusetts has apologized after a picture from their pilgrim enrichment program was seen out of context. When social media got ahold of the picture, they were all blown away.

photo: Facebook

Many people say the little black girl in leashes looks like she's being enslaved by her classmates. Seeing as this is a lesson on pilgrims, it wouldn't be far-fetched. Now the school is pleading their case.

The straps that are pictured around the 8-year-old girl are so-called “lead strings” used in the 17th century to keep children from wandering or to help them learn to walk. In the fashion of children, the little girl apparently volunteered to take part in the lesson.

The instructor pictured in the photo, who is the director of education at Plimoth Plantation, should have known better.

“If you look at that picture out of context, what are you going to think? It’s clear what it looks like. It’s disgusting,” said a parent who did not want to be identified.

Parent Andrea St. Clare was so stunned she picked up her child early from school. “It seems like enslavement of a person. Even the color of the child has nothing to do with it,” she said.

The superintendent of the school district, Derek Swenson has since issued a statement.

“It was never the intent of the lesson to demean or degrade any one person or group," he says."The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District sincerely apologizes to the students, staff, and community at large for this unfortunate incident.”

A spokesperson for Plimoth Plantation also apologized but said it’s a program they’ve taken to numerous classrooms. Maybe this should be a lesson about what pilgrims represent to some Americans versus what they represent to others. Even out of context, it's just not a good look.

elementary education

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