WILMINGTON, N.C. – A North Carolina elementary school is defending a controversial board game used in classrooms to teach slavery to fourth graders.
The Underground Railroad game, called "Escaping Slavery," infuriated at least one family whose child goes to Codington Elementary School in Wilmington.
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The game depicts shackles, dice and a slave family on the punch card.
The school said the goal was to educate students about slavery.
A grandmother of a student in the class wants the game pulled from all future lessons.
A spokesperson for the school confirmed fourth graders did in fact play the game as part of a Black History Month activity.
A statement from the school board reads in part:
"The overall purpose was to help dispel some of the myths about slavery and help students understand that it was a horrible ordeal."
An online description from the educational website "Teachers pay teachers" says the role-playing game is not trying to trivialize slavery.