Parents complain after choir sings cotton-picking song

Associated Press

TOLEDO

Some parents at a northwest Ohio middle school say they were shocked to hear an eighth-grade choir sing about picking cotton not long after students in the district took photos and videos of themselves with a Confederate flag outside the high school.

The Blade reports “Cotton Needs Pickin’” was performed Thursday during the fall concert at Springfield Middle School in Lucas County. Parent Nicole Maulsby posted a video of the performance on Facebook.

Maulsby and online commenters say a song about workers happily picking cotton is a racist reference to slaves toiling in the fields of the South.

Springfield Schools Superintendent Matt Geha says the song came from a book of American folk music.