(RNN) – Parents at a California school are asking the district's school board to rethink an annual middle school dance scheduled for Friday.
Ranchos Middle School in Madera Ranchos, CA, has held a Civil War Ball for the past eight years as a way for students to celebrate the end of the Civil War unit in their history class.
To earn the 50 points, students must attend the dance in period costume, bring food from the era and “perform the Waltz,” according to the class syllabus.
Foods include fried or baked chicken, apple bread, raisins and rabbit.
Students have dressed up in both Union and Confederate attire at past dances.
But the annual festivity has alarmed parents.
"They're not holding celebrations when they teach World War II, and the Nazis threw parties then," Vicki Snowden-Jackson, an African American mother, told The Sacramento Bee. "Why do it with one of the darkest times in American history?"
Jackson said she wants the Golden Valley Unified School District in Madera County to reconsider the practice before her son starts middle school.
Madera Ranchos is 66 percent white and 1.7 percent black while the county is 34 percent white and 4.2 percent black, the Sacramento Bee said.
The school district did not respond to request for comment by local media.
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