North Carolina parents are furious after their sixth-grade children received an assignment to study an image that features a sexually explicit act. The artwork is titled “Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War as it Occurred b’tween the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her heart” by Kara Walker.
The assignment was given to students at Kennedy Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina. One parent, Samantha Davis told local news station WSOC that she was “shocked” to see the artwork as part of her daughter’s curriculum.
The artwork was uploaded to the online host Canvas to present to the students. “I was shocked. I didn’t think I needed to look up what my child was learning in an art class” said Davis who called the artist and what she depicts as not being “age-appropriate for middle school kids to see.”
The school’s principal sent a message to parents stating, “It was brought to my attention that there were some inappropriate artist images that were inadvertently included in a 6th grade art lesson while the teacher is on maternity leave. I worked with the art teacher to have the pictures removed from the CANVAS platform.”
The principal added they will review digital protocols with teachers and ensure they only post vetted images and links. Davis said “to just pull it is nice, that’s great – but it shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”
