USA Today reports that Alan Barron, a Michigan teacher, was suspended for showing his students a video of white entertainers in blackface. School officials are currently working to determine whether Barron’s lesson plan and use of a blackface video were unsuitable for students.

According to the Monroe News, Barron showed the video while teaching his class about Jim Crow racial segregation laws. The video was an example of blackface minstrelsy, which got its name from the white performers who blackened their faces, and was a very popular form of entertainment in 19th-century America.

The video reportedly offended an assistant principal who was sitting in on Barron’s class when he showed it.

However, the video did not offend everyone who saw it. One child, whose father is African-American, could not understand why school officials became upset.

“She was more offended that they stopped the video,” the student’s mother, Adrienne Aaron, told the Monroe News.

“It had nothing to do with racism. History is history,” she added. “We need to educate our kids to see how far we’ve come in America. How is that racism?”

USA Today points out that Barron, who is set to retire at the end of this year after 36 years of teaching, has received an outpouring of support from parents and students.

Did Barron deserve to be suspended or was he trying to educate his students about racism? Start a conversation by sharing your thoughts in the comments section.