Controversy surrounds 5th grade field trip to a cotton field

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ROCK HILL, SC (WOLO, WSOC) – There’s controversy surrounding an annual 5th grade field trip to a cotton field because some say it’s insensitive to the history of slavery.

For the past 15 years, students in Rock Hill have been visiting the Carroll School, a school house built in 1929 that is surrounded by cotton fields.

During the visit, students pick cotton and sing songs in the fields. Some parents including a York County Councilman, say they are reminiscent of slave songs.

This morning the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina released a statement in reaction to the field trip. It read in part:

“The fact that the South Carolina school system would consider this field trip as remotely appropriate in 2019, and during Black History Month, is an insult to all residents of South Carolina.”

In response to the criticism of the song, the Rock Hill School District released a statement that explained:

“The song that is sung by the students as they participate in picking cotton as it was done in the Great Depression time period, was originally written by an African-American instructor who currently works with students at the Carroll School. He did not intend it to sound like, or be in any way a slave song as it has been characterized.”