| Credit: Google Maps A Mississippi school district is facing criticism after a class assignment asked middle schoolers to put themselves in the shoes of an enslaved person, and write letters to friends and family. The assignment given to eighth-graders at Purvis Middle School told students to "pretend like you are a slave working on a Mississippi plantation," according to a screenshot of the assignment that Black Lives Matter Mississippi posted to Twitter. Get push notifications with news, features and more. + Follow Following You'll get the latest updates on this topic in your browser notifications. The students were then instructed to write a letter "to your family back in Africa or in another American state" describing their lives, their journey to America and their daily tasks.