YMCA Ends Controversial Slave Re-enactment at Camps

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI – A Dearborn Heights mother’s concerns ultimately led to the YMCA’s discontinuation of a Underground Railroad re-enactment that required some children at camps to play slaves “bought and sold” by slave masters, who were portrayed by instructors whose scenes included chasing runaways on horseback.

Tiffany Birchett enrolled her daughter, a student at Pardee Elementary School in Dearborn Heights, to attend the YMCA Storer Camps in Jackson that include a variety of outdoor activities, from hiking and kayaking to horseback riding and sitting around campfires, The Detroit News reports.

Birchett was surprised when 10-year-old Makayla came home from the camp “very disturbed” about the program, according to an email to school principal William J. Murphy. In it, Birchett wrote that her daughter had a “racially insensitive experience” and had been “displaying bouts of sadness.”

“As the mother of an African American son and daughter, I am dismayed that Pardee Elementary would authorize and condone such an extremely racially insensitive and damaging activity,” she wrote.

In his response to Birchett’s concerns, Murphy noted that no other complaints had been received. Nancy Burger, director of Outdoor Environmental Education for the YMCA Storer Camps, reportedly told Murphy that the re-enactment was a “favorite evening program” of more than 50 students, which she said “is impressive as it shows the students truly learned something from the experience.”

Another parent, Regina Crutchfield, told The Detroit News that her 10-year-old daughter witnessed the re-enactment of the killing of a deputy by one of the camp instructors.

“They should not do that in front of a 10-year-old, and not when kids are hundreds of miles away from home,” Crutchfield said. “If they want to teach black history, they should do that in the classroom.”

Birchett’s concerns about the Underground Railroad re-enactments ultimately reached the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

Mark Fancher, the staff attorney for ACLU’s Michigan Racial Justice Project, who directed complaints to the national YMCA headquarters, said the re-enactment not only trivializes the horrors of chattel slavery, it subjects innocent children to a racially hostile environment that leaves them vulnerable to feeling degraded, humiliated and guilty.

“We all agree that our students should learn about slavery as a critical period of American history,” Fancher said in a statement to Patch and other media, “but treating them like runaway slaves is neither an effective nor healthy way to do it.”

In the letter to YMCA president and chief executive officer Kevin Washington, Fancher cited expert education research that characterized slave re-enactments as “inappropriate” methods for teaching young children about slavery.

The experts raised concerns that such role-play programs are harmful to children of all races, and they urged that lessons about slavery occur within a historical context that includes African history prior the U.S. slave trade.

Among the expert recommendations noted in the ACLU letter is a passage from “The Understanding Slavery Initiative,” a widely respected historical learning project: “Studying ancient civilizations such as Mali and Benin, and reminding children that Ancient Egypt was an African civilization, challenges the stereotypical image of Africa as an unsophisticated continent. It will also allow them when older to better appreciate the devastating effects the system of transatlantic slavery had on the continent, and how its legacy is felt today.”

In addition to requesting that the YMCA terminate the “Underground Railroad” program, the letter also asked the YMCA to consult with experts before developing any future programs designed to educate children about slavery.

About 40 public and private school districts have participated in the program over the last 20 years. The program was discontinued by the YMCA after ACLU Michigan aired its concerns.

“We applaud the YMCA’s mature and responsible decision to terminate the Underground Railroad activity. The activity presented a risk of trauma for children who identify with their enslaved ancestors,” Fancher said. “We encourage further efforts to educate children about slavery but without re-enactments and in consultation with experts.”

» Photo of Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad in Detroit‘s Hart Plaza by Jason Paris via Wikimedia / Creative Commons