‘Colored only' signs at school draw outrage, GA parents say. District responds
A Georgia school district is investigating after parents raised concerns over segregation-era signs displayed inside an Atlanta-area elementary school, news outlets reported.
Signs reading 'For Whites Only' and 'For Colored Only' were reportedly posted in a cafeteria and above water fountains at Honey Creek Elementary School in Conyers, parents told WSB-TV.
School leaders explained the signs were part of an unapproved social studies activity, but it did little to quell public scrutiny, WXIA reported.
Parents voiced their concerns at a recent Rockdale County School Board meeting, prompting district leaders to take a closer look at the incident, the station reported.
In a statement, Rockdale County Public Schools said it has taken 'appropriate action to address the reported information' but declined to comment on the matter further, according to WANF.
Principal Adriene Lanier addressed the incident in a letter to parents on April 23, saying it involved a social studies lesson on civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, WSB-TV reported. Bridges was the first Black child to desegregate William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana in 1960.
'The district provides teachers with curriculum documents that include recommended and vetted resources and activities,' Lanier said, as reported by the station. 'In this instance, the teacher did not adhere to the approved resources or recommended lessons provided by the district.'
It's not clear if the teacher will face disciplinary action.
McClatchy News reached out to Rockdale County Public Schools for more information April 24 but didn't immediately hear back.
District leaders said the teacher had no ill intent but acknowledged the classroom lesson wasn't appropriate, according to WXIA.
In a statement, The Georgia NAACP said it was 'deeply disturbed' by the incident and argued that the signage evoked a 'painful legacy of segregation and racial injustice.'
'We call upon the Rockdale County School District to take swift and transparent action — not only to hold those involved accountable but to implement district-wide anti-racism education, cultural competency training for staff and students, and spaces for open dialogue led by trusted community leaders,' the organization said.
Conyers is about a 20-mile drive southeast from downtown Atlanta.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Archeologists scour Charlestown for Revolution-era artifacts, seeking stories of the forgotten
Boston 250 seeks to learn more about the ordinary Bostonians in 1775 whose lives have been historically ignored, such as women and children, and Black and Indigenous people. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'The folks that get talked about in the 250th are the older men who were in the battle,' Bagley said, 'but there's thousands of people impacted by this day. And we really want to tell those other stories.' Advertisement Archeologists and volunteers sift for artifacts in a backyard in Charlestown as part of the city's Boston 250 Archaeology project. Lane Turner/Globe Staff In a private Charlestown backyard this month — a property that belonged to the The Trumbull property had a house, a barn, a leather tannery, and a distillery, which was probably converting molasses into rum, Bagley said. Advertisement 'That distillery is going to have direct connections to the slave industry,' he said, because it was 'bringing molasses up from the Caribbean. All of that is produced by enslaved people.' He has no evidence that the Trumbull family were enslavers. As Bagley and his crew dug and sifted, other team members conducted Volunteer Tim Riordan inspects an excavated artifact in a backyard in Charlestown as Boston 250 archeologists conduct a dig. Lane Turner/Globe Staff The City Archaeology Program, part of Boston's 'To be honest, a lot of our work is self-created,' Bagley said. 'We decided amongst ourselves that Boston history is very well covered, but there's a lot that hasn't been told — so we're going to focus on underrepresented histories.' They reached out over social media and in public meetings, and Charlestown residents offered up possible excavation sites. The team has forthcoming digs at A trench is measured so any found artifacts can be identified by depth in a backyard in Charlestown in one of Boston 250 Archaeology's excavations. Lane Turner/Globe Staff 'Charles Bulfinch is a huge architect, and we don't often get to see the buildings that are gone now,' Bagley said. 'It's not going to be much of it. Maybe the basement. But still.' Advertisement Before excavating, the team found a treasure trove in their documentary research. Charlestown leaders had called on residents to submit 'They were going to submit to the new country and say, basically, 'Hey, it would be great if we could get refunded for all these losses,'' Bagley said. 'It took them forever to recover. It devastated the town.' 'It's an amazing set of documents. It's also a tragic set of documents,' he added. 'They never got a restitution for anything that they lost.' A trench is excavated inch by inch in a backyard in Charlestown as City of Boston archeologists research ordinary life at the time of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Boston City Archaeology, with offices and an exhibition space in West Roxbury, has a roster of volunteers. Jennifer Reed, a retired elementary school library teacher from the North Shore, dove into the documentary research. 'When you look at these The researchers discovered a claim from Margaret Thomas, a Black woman who had bought a house in Charlestown from 'Given the time period, she likely was manumitted at some point in her life, or born to someone that was freed,' Bagley said. It's unclear how she came to own the property, but Thomas's life after the battle is better documented: She married William Lee, George Washington's enslaved butler, and Advertisement The stopper from a 20th-century bottle of perfume held by a team member after it was excavated in a dig in Charlestown. Lane Turner/Globe Staff As the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution unfolds, Bagley said the team will spread over Boston to dig up more untold history. Next year, they'll be at a fort in Roxbury, 'and we know there's Black soldiers there,' he said. They're looking at Boston Common, where British soldiers encamped with their families. He's interested in those women and children. What was their life like? 'It's a totally different story than I think people associate with the siege of Boston,' Bagley said.
Chicago Tribune
4 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Swine flu declared a pandemic
Today is Wednesday, June 11, the 162nd day of 2025. There are 203 days left in the year. Today in history: On June 11, 2009, with swine flu reported in more than 70 nations, the World Health Organization declared the first global flu pandemic in 41 years. Also on this date: In 1509, England's King Henry VIII married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. In 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five (composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman) to draft a declaration of independence from Great Britain, to be completed in the subsequent 17 days. 1955, in motor racing's worst disaster, more than 80 people were killed during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France when two cars collided and crashed into spectators. In 1962, Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin, prisoners at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, staged an escape, leaving the island on a makeshift raft. They were never found or heard from again. In 1963, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức lit himself on fire on a Saigon street as a protest against the Vietnamese government's persecution of Buddhists. In 1963, the University of Alabama was desegregated as Vivian Malone and James Hood became the first two Black students allowed to enroll in classes; Alabama segregationist and Gov. George Wallace initially blocked the doorway to the auditorium where course registration was taking place, delivering a speech before deferring to National Guard orders to move. In 1987, Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in over 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office as her Conservative Party held onto a reduced majority in Parliament. In 2001, Timothy McVeigh, 33, was executed by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. Today's Birthdays: Drummer Bernard Purdie is 86. International Motorsports Hall of Famer Jackie Stewart is 86. Actor Roscoe Orman is 81. Actor Adrienne Barbeau is 80. Rock musician Frank Beard (ZZ Top) is 76. Singer Graham Russell (Air Supply) is 75. Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana is 69. Actor Hugh Laurie is 66. TV personality and current Medicare Administrator Mehmet Oz is 65. Actor Peter Dinklage is 56. Actor Joshua Jackson is 47. U.S. Olympic and WNBA basketball star Diana Taurasi is 43. Actor Shia LaBeouf is 39. Basketball Hall of Famer Maya Moore is 36.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Juneteenth event to take place this weekend
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — On Saturday, June 14, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m, the Black Citizens and Friends will be hosting its 4th annual Juneteenth Celebration. The free, family-friendly event aims to celebrate Black history, culture and resilience. The Juneteenth Celebration will have food trucks, live music, double-dutch jump rope, a history scavenger hunt, activities for kids, guest speakers and information booths. In addition, the Black Citizens and Friends will be awarding individuals and organizations for Diverse Business of the Year, Josephine Dickey D51 Educator of the Year and CMU Diverse Staff Person of the Year. The event is sponsored by the City of Grand Junction Commission on Arts & Culture, Monument Health, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, and Coffee and Civic Action. Black Citizens and Friends is an organization that was established in 1982 by David Combs, A.J. Murray and others. The organization was founded to advocate for black people in the Mesa County area. It hosts educational events and programs across the county, such as its Martin Luther King Jr. and Juneteenth celebrations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
