Outrage erupts after students write pro-slavery 'Civil War tweets' for ‘disturbing’ elementary school assignment

School officials in North Carolina are apologizing after fourth graders at Waxhaw Elementary School were given an assignment where they were asked to imagine what people would post on Twitter if the platform existed during the Civil War.

Speaking to the Charlotte Observer, Union County NAACP member Kimberly Morrison-Hansley said the results "should be disturbing to anyone."

The tweets that were displayed in the school's hallway were all pro-slavery, WCNC Charlotte reported. They were also displayed publicly on the school's Facebook page.

One tweet read, "You may not agree with slavery but I do and I'm honest about it #Slaveryforlife."

Outraged parents sent letters to school officials, decrying the assignment as blatantly racist.

Parent Brittany Buford told WCNC Charlotte that it wasn't surprising that "racism and institutional racism continues to rear its ugly head in that community."

"There's nothing else to call it. There's no second side to this coin. Racism is racism," she added.

Superintendent Andrew Houlihan agreed, calling the assignment "racially insensitive and not appropriate."

"I want to be clear: any type of assignment such as this is unacceptable. We are taking this matter very seriously and will ensure this doesn't happen again," Houlihan wrote.

Union County Schools has since apologized and said in a statement that the assignment was unacceptable.

"We apologize for offending parents, staff, students and members of our community," the statement said, adding that district administrators "are taking this matter very seriously and met with the entire Waxhaw Elementary staff."