Petition to Condemn Mock Slave Auctions at JCL Classics Events

For more information and context on this issue, please see Dani Bostick’s detailed post.

Dear Sherwin Little, Mary Pendergraft, & Catherine Sturgill:

We write to express our dismay at the practice of mock slave auctions in the context of Junior Classical League national conventions, state conventions, club meetings, and other topics. We condemn the use of oppression and dehumanization as a source of levity and entertainment in an organization that is often children’s first introduction to Classics. 

We agree with the American Classical League’s May 5 statement against racism and, along with the ACL, we reject “racism and white supremacy in all of their manifestations.” We assume that the JCL, as an affiliate of the ACL, shares these sentiments and is equally committed to the ACL’s commitment that their “ resources, workshops, and other events do not inadvertently promote and further racism, sexism, white supremacy, or any other set of ideas that foster systemic inequities.”

However, in condoning, promoting, holding, and failing to condemn mock slave auctions, JCL-affiliated groups and conventions have created an environment that harms many junior classicists and excludes many other potential classicists. This is not the vision of classics that we want to promote at the secondary or post-secondary level. Individual JCL organizations look to the ACL and JCL for leadership, and they both have a large role in shaping the field and establishing the culture of secondary Classics. They must do better.

We are asking ACL and JCL to: 

• Apologize for establishing and perpetuating mock slave auctions and acknowledge the harm this has caused generations of students. 
• Condemn the practice of mock slave auctions for fundraising, classroom instruction, or any other purpose. 
• Disseminate information to ACL members and JCL sponsors about the harm caused by mock slave auctions and, more broadly, using slavery and other forms of oppression as a source of humor. 
• Prevent future harm by adding a prohibition against mock slave auctions to the JCL governing documents as soon as possible and releasing immediate guidance that informs stakeholders that they are harmful and inappropriate in any context, including (especially) the classroom.  

As students and instructors at the secondary and post-secondary level and other members of the classics community, we ask you to consider making these changes that will make our field a more inclusive place for everyone.

Sincerely,

Please scroll down to add your name to the petition

Note to signatories: thank you for signing this petition! We also encourage you to do some or all of the following:

• Write an individual letter of concern to leaders of the ACL and JCL: Mary Pendergraft, President ACL (president@aclclassics.org), Sherwin Little, Executive Director (littles@aclclassics.org), and Catherine Sturgill, Chair of the JCL (publicrelations@ncjl.org)
• Write a letter as a JCL chapter
• Ask your department chair / administrator/ equity coordinator or applicable central office leader to write a letter or issue a public statement
• Pass this letter on to like-minded colleagues (even outside of the field)

Signatories

Dani Bostick
Amy Pistone	Gonzaga University
Madelyn Torchin
Aven McMaster	Assistant Professor, Thorneloe University at Laurentian
Kevin M. Perry
David Perry	University of Minnesota
Jennifer Lewton-Yates	Asst. Prof. of Classics, Millsaps College
Sarah Teets	University of Virginia
Liv Mariah Yarrow	Associate Professor, Classics, Brooklyn College
Jane Sancinito	Visiting Assistant Professor, Oberlin College
Isaac Hoffman	Cornell Grad Student
Rebecca Kennedy	Denison University
Lindsey Mazurek	Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Oregon
Victoria Austen-Perry	University of Winnipeg
Graham Butler	PhD, UBC
Nancy Rabinowitz	Professor of Literature Hamilton College
Thomas Lecaque	Grand View University
Preston Bannard	Classics teacher, Groton School
Natalie Daifotis	Graduate Student, UMass Amherst
Judith P Hallett
Deborah Lyons	Dept of Classics, Miami University
Leah Bernardo-Ciddio	PhD Candidate, IPCAA, University of Michigan
Justin Slocum Bailey
Alex Claman	Texas Tech University
Emma Remsberg
Timothy Joseph	College of the Holy Cross
Sarah Galatioto-Ruff	Teacher
Lillian Sellers	Tucker High School
Tom Di Giulio
Danielle Kellogg	Brooklyn College
Courtney Monahan	Duke University; Durham Academy (Durham, NC)
Wynter Douglas
Lynnea Kaylor	Student & Mentor, Kaylor Ashuvyahu Center for Classical Learning
Barbara Gold	Hamilton College (emerita)
Rosanna Lauriola	Adjunct Assistant prof. of Classics, Randolph-Macon College (VA)
Patricia Kim
Kassandra Miller	Visiting Assistant Professor, Bard College
Danielle Martin	Middle School Latin/Seattle Academy
David J. Wright	Lecturer, Fordham University
Arum Park	Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Arizona
Tori Lee	Duke University
Eush Tayco
Melissa Funke	Assistant Professor, University of Winnipeg
Aneirin Pendragon
Allene M. Seet
Jennifer Gerrish	College of Charleston
Michael Goyette	Instructor of Classics, Eckerd College
Matt Gibbs	Associate Professor, University of Winnipeg
Erin Moodie	Assistant Professor, Purdue University
Phebe duPont	Haverford College
Molly Harris	University of Wisconsin-Madison
Brenda Fields
Gregory P. Stringer	Burlington (MA) Public High School
Dimitri Nakassis	University of Colorado Boulder
Samuel Flores	College of Charleston
Hannah Culik-Baird	Assistant Professor Boston University
Hayley Barnett
Steven Mondloch	UMass Amherst
Brandon Conley	Michigan State University
Jay Fisher	Professor Department of Classics Rutgers University
Heather Galante
Marcia Smith, Ph.D.
Joy Reeber	University of Arkansas
Joy Eliot	Former course lead, North Carolina Virtual Public School (disabled). B.A. First Class Cambridge, M.A. Harvard.
Lisa Maurizio	Bates College
Stephanie McCarter	The University of the South (Sewanee)
Brittany Johnson	The Ursuline School
Grace Gillies	Visiting Lecturer, Bates College
Simon DeSantis
Gray Alexander
Clara Bosak-Schroeder	Assistant Professor, UIUC
Kathryn H. Stutz	Graduate student, Johns Hopkins University
Anatole Mori	University of Missouri
Christine Ellis
Amber Kearns
Britta Ager	Colorado College
Jacqueline Church
Kathryn Topper	University of Washington
Yurie Hong	Gustavus Adolphus College
Marina Haworth	North Hennepin Community College
Jameson Minto
Diane Warne Anderson	UMass Boston
Jacquelyn Wilkins	Teacher, EC Glass High School & Former Director, Virginia Governor’s Latin Academy
Sarah E. Bond	Associate Prof. of History, University of Iowa
Neel Smith
Max Rohleder
Sydney Preston	Graduate Student, UMass Amherst
Alice Bradley
Tom Hendrickson	Stanford Online High School
Matt Mitchell
Elijah J. Mears
adam williams
Alicia Matz	Boston University
Diana Ng
Forrester Hammer	Graduate student, UMass Amherst
Dr. Liz Gloyn	Senior Lecturer in Classics, Royal Holloway, University of London
Dr Gabriel Bodard	Reader in Digital Classics, University of London
Andrew Scott	Villanova University
Shannon DuBois	Boston University
Katherine Wasdin	Assistant Professor, University of Maryland
Alexandra Pappas	San Francisco State University
Christopher Polt	Boston College
Liliana Schaefer
Dominic Machado	College of the Holy Cross
Ian Nurmi	Boston University
Joseph Stern	UMass Amherst
Paul Brucia Breitenfeld	Boston University
Rachel Hart
Jacqui Bloomberg	Upper School Latin Teacher at Dana Hall in Wellesley, MA
Sarah Stroup	University of Washington, Seattle
Deborah Kamen	University of Washington
Kristina Sherburne
Anwar Omeish	2014 Virginia JCL President
Ningyin Zhao
Eli Williams
Joseph Farrell
Emily Damiano
Ruby Blondell	Professor Emerita, University of Washington
Amit Shilo	Assistant Professor of Classics, UCSB
Mary Lou Burke	Woodrow Wilson High School
Boyce Collins	North Carolina A&T State University
Catherine Connors	University of Washington
Anthony Corbeill	University of Virginia
Jennifer Judge	Gonzaga Preparatory
Wayne Miller	Latin Teacher, Garfield HS, Seattle, WA
Molly Stevens	UGA
Stephen Hinds	University of Washington, Seattle
Jackie Murray	University of Kentucky
Mali Skotheim	Postdoctoral Fellow, The Warburg Institute
Lauren Donovan Ginsberg	University of Cincinnati
Jennifer Ebbeler	UT Austin
Roberta Stewart	Professor, Dartmouth College
K. Scarlett Kingsley	Agnes Scott College
Ellen O’Gorman	University of Bristol
Anna Henriques
Francesca Tronchin
Dr. Francesca Tronchin	Addenbrooke Classical Academy
Kendra Eshleman	Boston College; MD JCL 1990-91
Anise K. Strong	Associate Professor, Western Michigan University
Jason Nethercut	USF
Julie Hruby	Dartmouth College
Peter Meineck	New York University
Ruth Scodel	The University of Michigan
Kyler Laycock
David Kaufman	Associate Professor of Classics and Philosophy, Transylvania University
John Hyland	Christopher Newport University
Molly Jones-Lewis	Lecturer Ancient Studies Dept. UMBC; VA JCL student 1995-9
Susann Lusnia	Associate Professor & Chair, Tulane University
Joan Romanosky	JCL sponsor
Michael McOsker	Ohio Wesleyan University
Kristen Ehrhardt	Associate Professor of classics, John Carroll University
Marisa Alimento	Latin Teacher/Coordinator@ Crossroads School, Santa Monica
Allison Emmerson	Tulane University
Ian Lockey	Friends select school Latin teacher
Ashleigh Fata
Konnor Clark	PhD
Tom Hawkins	Ohio State
Ulrike Krotscheck	The Evergreen State College
Sarah Brucia Breitenfeld	Graduate Student, University of Washington
Elin Rummel	Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences
Dana Woell
Lisa Mignone
Kira Jones	Emory University
Michaela Downing
Kelly P. Dugan	University of Georgia
Steven Ellis	University of Cincinnati
Sarah Levin-Richardson	Assistant Prof. of Classics, University of Washington
Alexander Beecroft	University of South Carolina
Ruby Blondell	University of Washington
Priscilla Scofield	Roosevelt High School, Seattle
Nicolas P. Gross	Retired Classicist
Elizabeth Kosmetatou	University of Illinois – Springfield
Erin Walcek Averett	Associate Professor, Creighton University
Katherine Blouin	University of Toronto
Hallie Franks	New York University
T. H. M. Gellar-Goad	Wake Forest University
Briana Titus	teacher & JCL sponsor
Zoé Elise Thomas	University of Texas at Austin
Marian Makins	Temple University
Taz Hinkle
Melanie Subacus
Robert Amstutz
Susan Herder
Jason Albaugh
Laura Hudec
Emily Goetz	Classical Magnet School (former), JCL club advisor (former)
Clayton Schroer	University of Illinois/Colorado College
Arti Mehta
Gina Soter	University of Michigan
Ellen Sassenberg	Century High School
Sara Myers	Professor of Classics, UVA
Heather Waddell	Chair, Greek & Roman Studies (Concordia College, Moorhead MN)
Lizzy Ten-Hove	PhD Candidate, Stanford University
Catherine Reed	Dulaney High School, Baltimore County
Daniel Bostick	Social Sciences Teacher
Lea Cline	Associate Professor, Illinois State University
Leigh Anne Lieberman	The Claremont Colleges
Jack Kanoof	Assistant Professor, University of Virginia
Raymon Johnson
Emma Hanley
Tom Elliott	Associate Director for Digital Programs and Senior Research Scholar, NYU/ISAW
Jessica Rothwell	Arizona State University
Bill Beck	Indiana University, Bloomington
Christina Vester	Associate Professor, University of Waterloo
Mary Gilbert	Birmingham Southern College
Mike de Brauw	Associate Professor of Classics, North Central College (Naperville, IL)
Vincent Price
Stephanie Wong	Brown University
Sarah J. Miller	Gilman School
Sara Priebe
Shelley Haley	Hamilton College
Julia Fink	Geffen Academy at UCLA
Addison Lee
Parker McClary	Geffen Academy
Phoebe Fischer	Geffen Academy
Lucius Farha	Geffen Academy
Arushi Khare	Geffen Academy
Bianca Baron
Rachel Goldstein
Ploy Keener	Teacher, Walnut Hills High School
Skye Shirley	GrecoLatinoVivo
Laura Manning
Felix Bieneman
Peter Barrios-Lech	University of Massachusetts Boston
Allison Glazebrook	Brock University
Jackie Lund	Bexley High School
Rachel Sampson
Sidler Davis	State Chair

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