Miami preschool teacher paints kids in blackface for lesson. ‘You should know better’

Last Friday, Courtney Politis was preparing for her daughter’s first birthday party when another parent from her child’s school sent her photos of at least three students from her daughter’s class dressed in blackface.

Politis is one of several parents upset that a preschool teacher at Studio Kids’ Little River location used blackface to teach a lesson about Black History Month. Two parents sent the Miami Herald photos of three toddlers with what appears to be brown paint covering their faces, one of whom appears to be dressed as a construction worker while the other is wearing a police uniform. It’s unclear what the third child is dressed as or the content of the lesson.

“You should know better as an educator,” Politis told the Miami Herald, fighting back tears. Politis, who is Black, already removed her children from the preschool. “What else are you teaching our children?”

As the photos began circulating in a parents’ group chat, Politis sent a text to Studio Kids director Patricia Vitale that said “This is racist,” according to a screenshot of the conversation. Vitale responded, “I’m sorry?” to which Politis replied, “A lot of moms are very concerned.” Vitale said she didn’t understand, asked “What is racist?” and subsequently sent out a message to all the parents.

“We have not intended to offend anyone, and we are very sorry about any inconvenience,” Vitale’s message read, according to screenshots. “The parents that know us, know that we have never had a bad intention in our institution.”

“I am shocked and somewhat destabilized,” said another parent, who requested to remain anonymous due to her child still attending the school. She was immediately concerned that her child participated in the activity. Once the parent discovered it was another class, she told her child’s teacher how “inappropriate” the incident was and that she wanted to speak to the director.

“How do I trust them to make the decision about what to show my toddler?” she added.

Studio Kids, the website of which touts its “environment rich in warmth, love, learning, and play,” has three locations in Miami-Dade: two in Little River, one of which is a Montessori school, and another in Buena Vista. The preschool serves both infants and toddlers and can cost up to $1,500 per month.

“The issue is resolved already; 80 percent of the families are okay,” Vitale told the Miami Herald. She then said any further questions should be directed toward her lawyer.

Blackface first emerged in the United States during the 1830s. It would soon become the hallmark of minstrelsy, or comedic performances by whites in black makeup that exaggerated the features and culture of Black Americans who were portrayed as lazy, uneducated and hypersexual. Such depictions allowed white Americans “to codify whiteness across class and geopolitical lines” as antithetical to Blackness, according to the Smithsonian Museum.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, blackface still remains an issue. The play “Tres Viudas en un Crucero” (“Three Widows on a Cruise”), which Little Havana’s Teatro Trail hosted in 2018, featured a character in blackface for several months. Only after public backlash did the play’s director remove the character, though he initially defended it.

The Studio Kids parents that spoke to the Miami Herald say the school is primarily Latino. According to Politis, the teacher who presented the lesson involving blackface is Latina.

“One of the arguments Latin Americans make in defense of their anti-blackness is that it’s cultural or that racism doesn’t exist, that it’s a problem in the U.S. where there was Jim Crow segregation and not the same interracial nation building projects,” Andrea Queeley, a professor of anthropology at FIU who studies Cuba, the African diaspora and race. “It is of course complicated but the historical, social, cultural and economic realities of Afro-Latin Americans suggest otherwise.”

This isn’t the first time a preschool has used blackface, either. In 2022, a Massachusetts preschool closed its doors after teachers told toddlers to paint blackface masks on paper plates during Black History Month.

A 2018 photo of a Miami Catholic school student wearing blackface sparked complaints from alumni after it was shared on the school’s website and on its social media accounts. The photo was taken at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School in southwest Miami-Dade County during a February Black History Month celebration in which fourth-graders dressed up as famous African Americans and gave presentations about their accomplishments. One student chose former Secretary of State Colin Powell and painted his face black as part of the costume.