I looked it up, it was Lucile Bluford.
My son, being already brown, did nothing to alter his complexion. He made a fine Booker T. Washington.
Yesterday’s heros are tomorrows villians. See Cesar Chavez in recent news.
Missouri had a lot of now questionable heros from the Civil War. They shoud not be erased, but taught about, the good, bad, and the ugly. An exersise like this is a great opportunity to do just that.
I don’t really have any thoughts other than I’m grateful that my grandfather wasn’t listed. He’s one of a very few Missourians to have a law named after him. As well as a grandson.
I’m just up I-44 from the Ozarks, I’d be more afraid that doing anything but letting the kids select their own heroes would end up with a class full of kids “guided” into dressing up as racist, homophobic, Christian nationalists, and bring guns to class.
But for a more serious reply, what if the assignment was simply to research and write about a famous/infamous Missourian without the dress-up part? Would you feel the same way? Because that’s happening in third-grade classes all over America.
When I was in 7th grade we had a similar project where we did a little biography on a historical figure and we could dress as them. One of my fellow students was doing Al Jolson and asked our teacher if he could show up in blackface. Our teacher was fairly tactful and politely explained why that wouldn’t be appropriate.
WOKE - Whatever Offends Klansmen Easily.
In case anyone is curious:
Our Mark Twain:
Our Sheryl Crow:
Our (non-moustachioed) Walt Disney
The whole class:
From Top Left: Frank & Jesse James, Omar Bradley, Sara Evans, Sacajawea, Edwin Hubble, Some Race Car Driver, Some Wrestler, Mark McGwire, Harry Truman, Bloody Bill Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Susan Elizabeth Blow, Art Hains (uses wheelchair, just like the kid, so props to that kid!), Walt Disney, William Clark, and Mark Twain.
The school I teach at does the same thing except the kids are in 5th grade and they do a person from each state. I’m not sure if the teachers assign the state that each student gets, but the kids do choose the person they want to be for the presentations they give. I’ve never picked up on an issue with someone making a bad choice, but maybe that’s addressed before it goes anywhere.
I have to wonder about the gender imbalance, there: I count 4 girls and 14 boys.
I counted at least six girls. Omar, Sara, Sacagawea, Edwin, Laura and Susan. Mark Twain might be a girl.
I’m disappointed it wasn’t Annie Malone, possibly first Black female millionaire
No Molly Brown, neither. The girls would have been all over that 30 years ago.
Might be fun and educational for a child to dress up as famous Missourian Joseph Paul Franklin (though Tennessee, Georgia and Indiana kiddies could want the honor)..
I’ve heard actors say that it’s more fun to play villains than heroes. I think it would be hysterical if someone portrayed Rush Limbaugh as a bloated, cigar-chomping, jerk who went around insulting everyone and being an asshole.
That could be asking a lot from a third grader.
As seen in the long-winded film title The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. From that title, you have no need to watch the film 
As for The James gang, that ship sailed a century ago. Northfield, MN, has Frank and Jesse James Day, and Meramec Caverns is billed as the hideout of Jesse James. People love outlaws. Unless they are the ones being robbed and killed.
I once had a class with only two girls and 12 boys. Started off with six girls, but several kids moved midyear. It happens!
As for the assignment, I think it’s fine, even with the fluid Missourian definition. The goal is almost certainly to get kids to conduct research and to think about the structure of biographies and to present the findings of their research. As long as they’re not doing something that’s going to make people super creeped out (like Hitler or Al Jolson in blackface), the exact figure doesn’t matter that much.
Which was the name of the book on which the film is based.
I just had to look that one up. It’s actually called “Defeat of Jesse James Days”. The holiday commemorates the day the brave citizens of Northfield thwarted a bank robbery by the gang. It’s not a celebration of the criminals but of the people who fought them.