NJ teachers to visit US, Africa slavery sites under new program
(Pixabay)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - New Jersey education and teachers' union officials are vowing to work together on expanding the teaching of black history, including an initiative to send teachers to sites in the United States and Africa associated with the slave trade.
The initiative was announced Friday as a new program under the state's Amistad law, named after the ship commandeered by African slaves in the 19th century.
Ed Richardson, executive director of the New Jersey Education Association, said about 20 educators are to visit sites next summer. In the first year, teachers will probably visit U.S. slavery sites, such as Jamestown, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; and New Orleans. Later, the program is to include a trip to Ghana.
The program is modeled after one that sends educators to Holocaust sites in Europe.