African-American history books were tossed by mistake, official says

The emergency manager appointed to oversee the Highland Park School District’s finances denied Tuesday that a large collection of black history books, tapes, film strips and other materials were deliberately discarded into Dumpsters last week from the district’s high school library.

Emergency manager Donald Weatherspoon, said workers on the second floor of the library mistakenly threw them out. He said the district was able to recover them in time.

It’s unclear, though, how much was really recovered. Residents said they found about 1,000 pieces of material on their own Thursday evening....