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A California elementary school community is outraged after a newspaper clipping with racist language was published in the yearbook, per ABC 7.
The racist article from the 1940s was recently printed and distributed in the 2024-2025 Montclair Elementary School yearbook.
One portion of the book features local newspaper articles about events previously held at the school. A report from October 1940 detailed the school's annual carnival and activities that children could participate in, including "n—r babies."
“Boy and Girl Scouts will have charge of booths and many attractions such as n—r babies, darts, fish pond, airplane game, fortune telling," the article read.
In the late 19th to early 20th century, “Hit the N—r Baby,” or African Dodger, was a popular game at local fairs and carnivals where a Black child or adult would stick their head through a curtain for participants to throw eggs at, per the Jim Crow Museum.
The article sparked outrage among parents and the school community.
“I was mad. I was very upset,” Natalie Golden, the aunt of a student, said of its inclusion in the yearbook.
“I was like, what the hell is this?” Brenda Mitchell, a student’s grandmother, said. “This is 2025… 1900s, what do the kids need to know about? Why would you bring that out? Why would you even put that in there? It was very inappropriate. Very inappropriate.”
The Montclair PTA historian claimed that she and other members of the volunteer yearbook team failed to read the full article and didn't catch the slur.
“In my excitement, I made the critical error of only reading the first paragraph before including it,” the historian said in an email, noting that she was stepping down from her position.
In a separate email, Montclair Elementary Principal David Kloker apologized to the school community, calling the article “deeply hurtful and entirely unacceptable.”
Kloker noted that stickers would be provided to cover the racist article.
“Put a sticker over it. What do you mean, put a sticker over it?” Mitchell questioned.
“Yeah. That’s unacceptable,” Golden said. “What they should have done is collected all the yearbooks and redone them, and then passed them back out.”
PTA President Sloane Young said refunds are being offered to anyone who had already purchased a yearbook. The PTA also said it would be publishing new yearbooks without the racist article.
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