Suffering from White
Guilt? Want to give your kids a memorable summer camp experience that passes on
your misgivings (imagined or real)? This sounds like just the thing. I can’t
wait to read about the educationally novel ideas the YMCA might have in store
for those interested in the Holocaust. While we’re at it, there are probably a
few pyramids that could be constructed using slave labor by parents interested
in Egyptian history who’d like to pass that on to their kids. - Jonah
Program Gives Kids Intense View of
Slavery
Mon May 16 2005 The girl stares
at the ground, the man looming beside her. Directly ahead is a path for escape.
Others stand rigidly with eyes cast downward. "They're
runaways, ain't they? You don't even have a concept of freedom, do you?"
the man barks at her face. "You a slave, girl?" She nods, a few
others sniffle. The 50
children, only one of whom is black, were experiencing the cruelties inflicted
upon slaves who tried to escape north through the Underground Railroad. "Slaves
had to go through that every day and I only did it for an hour," said
11-year-old Nicole Wallis, who was so frightened that she left the living
history program halfway through. The reenactment
at the YMCA's Camp Cosby, about 45 miles east of Birmingham, is one of several
nationwide, but uniquely intense. Camp counselors attempt to give a realistic
perspective about slavery to fourth- and fifth-grade students by dressing as
slave traders, bounty hunters and abolitionist and sending students on a risky
journey through the dense woods surrounding the camp. The result is a
jarring, yet memorable experience that experts say can't be achieved through a
textbook. "Kids tend
to faze out when just reading in a textbook," said Jeff Solomon, executive
director of the National Camp Association. Though
emotion-packed living history programs are a growing trend, the intensity of
the one at Camp Cosby is still rare, said Jane Healey, an educational
psychologist based in Vail, Colo. Children, she
said, need to be old enough to handle the program and need to be prepared for
what they will experience. If both those
conditions are met, the psychological impact of the camp's slavery program will
be strong, but not necessarily harmful, said Healey, author of "Your
Child's Growing Mind." "I'm not
particularly worried it's going to damage children," she said. Similar
programs, however, have met with opposition. Civil rights groups such as the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference have protested Civil War reenactments and slave
auctions, saying they trivialize black history. A slave auction
begins the camp's program. Students watch a handful of their classmates get
poked and prodded by prospective buyers. Minutes later
they discuss strategies to survive the escape route. They are advised to tell
bounty hunters that they are a choir group given permission to travel North for
a brief performance. They quiz each other on their masters' names and pick
their slave jobs — blacksmiths, cotton pickers and nannies were favorites. Their teacher
tries to teach them the words to "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" — for
them to sing if their alibi is questioned by bounty hunters. The jokes,
giggles and kindness quickly comes to an end at the foot of the woods. A woman points
them to a cabin, warning them to keep quiet or "they'll shoot your heads
off!" Nearby gunfire sends them running through a maze of trees and
underbrush, before they encounter back-to-back obstacles. "You're
property, and nothing more," a bounty hunter hisses, pressing his club to
a girl's back. She whimpers a "Yes, sir," and covers her face with
her hands. Once captured,
they're ordered to haul firewood into a pile, a task they complete obediently —
until a farmer knocks it down in spite. Their enemies taunt them with threats
of hangings and beatings. Students are
chaperoned by teachers and parent volunteers, who watch the children closely
for their reactions. Only four of the Clay Elementary School students stepped
out of the simulation. "It has to
be intense," said Chris Oldenburg, Camp Cosby's camping services
coordinator, who doubles as the bounty hunter sometimes. "The point
is to use history to teach something more than history," he continued,
pointing out that modern students may face several forms of discrimination:
race, religion, gender and socio-economic status. The black
student, Lauren Whatley, said she didn't feel her experience was any more or
less significant than that of the white students. "I kind of
felt like everyone else," said Lauren, 11. "We were all going through
it." Brindon Sutton,
10, said he learned that white people "shouldn't treat African-Americans
bad because they're just like us." Tyler Gault,
who oversees Camp Cosby's outdoor education program, said black and white
students respond similarly to the program because their fear and anticipation
during the simulation transcends their individual backgrounds. "It's a really vivid lesson in
compassion," Gault said. "We'll never come close to how horrific or
difficult slave life was, but we hope to give them a glimpse."
