LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A field of cotton planted at a Hollywood school to explain the horrors of slavery in the past to students has shocked an African-American student, according to a lawsuit filed in California against the school.

Rashonda Bates, who claims that this caused her daughter distress, is seeking $250,000 in damages.

The lawsuit filed against the school this week stated that the student "suffers from uncontrollable anxiety attacks (...) and bouts of depression when she thinks about the cotton cultivation project" launched by her school.

The cotton fields, in which slaves were forced to work under appalling conditions, are still a symbol of this era in US history.

The student, who was referred to by her initials "S. and ", began attending the "Laurel Spahn" school located in Hollywood in late 2017.

The lawsuit pointed out that S.W., now 17, was enthusiastic at first, but her feelings of depression and exhaustion increased with the passage of time.

Shortly after, when the mother was driving her daughter to school, she noticed that there were fields of cotton planted in one of her yards.

The lawsuit notes that Bates asked to speak to the administration "because she was intrigued by the idea of planting a cotton field in Hollywood, specifically on the yard of one of its public schools."

The administration explained to her that the students in her daughter's class were reading the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, one of the most prominent abolitionists and advocates for the rights of blacks, in which he discusses his experience in growing cotton.

The officials the mother was talking to at the time confirmed that the cotton field was planted with the aim of demonstrating to the pupils the practices to which slaves were forced in the past.

The lawsuit stated that Bates expressed her disappointment and anguish about the project "without consideration of feelings" because "the school asked her daughter and other students to harvest cotton as part of an exercise aimed at learning about the reality of African American slaves."

The text of the lawsuit confirmed that the school administration did not obtain permission from the students’ parents and did not inform them of the project before starting it.

The lawsuit added that the Los Angeles Unified School District, which oversees the school's management, expressed in a statement its regret that an "educational activity" was deemed not to take feelings into account.

The authority supervising the school said, "The school administration removed the cotton field immediately after it was informed of the attitude of the students' parents towards it."

"We do not usually comment on ongoing or upcoming judicial proceedings," a spokesperson told AFP.