by Aziah Siid
The tactile activity at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, began harmlessly enough. The teacher asked students to reach into a small box and describe what they felt.
But at the end of the exercise, the teacher handed Ziploc bags filled with dirty cotton — the material inside the box, ostensibly part of a history lesson on slavery — to the only two Black children in the class.
“It was dirty, like a dirty bag of cotton,” one of the children, Autumn Shelton, 13, said in an interview last week with ABC 7 Chicago. “She let us pick it or clean it for the rest of the class period.”
For her mother, Candace Ward, the cotton was the last straw: she fired off an angry Facebook post about it, attaching a photo of the bag that went viral. She then sued the majority-white district in federal court for what she alleges is a long, disturbing pattern of racism against her and her child.
“When it was happening to us, nobody believed it,” Ward said in the TV interview with her daughter. “But, the more they get away with, the more stuff they do.”
“I don’t feel my kids are safe,” she said.
The suit alleges a pattern of racial discrimination toward Autumn and Serenity dating back years. It includes a moment in fifth grade at Oak Park Elementary when Shelton said a white student called her sister a racial slur. It alleges that since attending District 97 schools, which also includes Percy Julian Middle School, Autumn and her younger sister, Serenity Shelton, have required therapy to deal with anxiety and thoughts of self-harm.
In a statement, District 97 officials rejected Ward’s claims outright, insisting they provide a learning environment that is “equitable, positive, safe, and free of discrimination against any student, staff, parent, and/or guardian.”
The suburban Chicago district is 53.7% white and 15.8% Black.
Not long after the cotton incident, Autumn was removed from that teacher’s class, and conversations about investigating the incident occurred, according to Ward’s lawsuit. But the teacher, according to the suit, was not reprimanded or punished.
Ward vented her frustration at an Oak Park School Board meeting in March.
“I came here a little less than a year ago practically begging for someone to hold (Oak Park Elementary School Principal Amy Jefferson accountable for the way that her and (school chief safety officer) Felicia Starks have been treating me and my kids. I have a few points I would like to touch on that made the most traumatic impact on my family.”
In the days after Autumn was sent home with the bag of cotton, and Ward created the facebook post, the family met with District 97 administrators. Shelton was subsequently removed from the teachers’ class, after-school activities were canceled due to threats in the aftermath of the Facebook post and official conversations about investigating the incident ensued.
The teacher who handed her the cotton, however, was not reprimanded or punished, according to the lawsuit.
In the aftermath of the incident, District 97 school board issued a statement declaring the cotton pictured in the social media post “was part of a lesson on the history of the cotton gin and its impact on slavery,” and that ”a few students asked to take the cotton home.” While slavery is on the curriculum, “we expect that such complex topics such as these are taught with sensitivity and care.”
While the history of slavery is part of District 97 curriculum, we expect that complex topics such as these are taught with sensitivity and care. In addition, we recognize that special consideration must be given to the experiences of the communities most impacted by the topics that are being taught.”
Multiple Acts of Discrimination
The cotton incident is not the first time Ward has complained about mistreatment of her or her daughter. Ward recalled confrontations she had with police and when the school failed to notify her that her daughter had received an in-school suspension.
Autumn, now a 7th grader, spoke directly about her own experiences dating back to 2022.
“Imagine being locked in a room or small space by your principal and assistant principal all because they don’t like the way your mom handled them,” Shelton said in the meeting. “Imagine the school nurse telling you they are out of (menstrual) pads but she will stick a tampon in your vagina in 5th grade…”
“I watched (Jefferson) have my mom arrested, me and my sister humiliated all because she has been taunting us,” Autumn said. “Once again, Dr. Starks aware and Dr. Shah became aware. I have thoughts of harming myself because of anxiety. My family has not been the same.”