Va. First Lady Handed Cotton To African-American Children: Report

A woman says the first lady of Virginia, Pam Northam, handed cotton to her African-American child -- and two others -- and asked them to imagine being slaves while touring the governor's mansion, according to a report.

WTOP reports that Leah Dozier Walker, a state employee, wrote to Northam's office Monday that the first lady spoke in the mansion's kitchen cottage, where slaves once worked, and gave pieces of cotton to black pages, including her daughter who is in the eighth grade.

Walker alleges that Northam asked the pages to hold cotton that she took from a bowl on a nearby table, and then asked the three pages, who were the only African-American pages in the program, to imagine what it was like to pick cotton all day.

The explosive accusation comes as her husband, Gov. Ralph Northam, endures calls for resignation after it came to light that a photo of a man in blackface and a man in KKK garb were on his medical school yearbook page. Northam initially admitted to being in the photo but later denied it, while acknowledging he once wore blackface to impersonate Michael Jackson.

WTOP reports that Walker said in the letter the incident indicates that "this Governor's office has [not] taken seriously the harm and hurt they have caused African-Americans in Virginia or that they are deserving of our forgiveness.

Pam Northam said in a statement she regretted causing anguish, and said she did the same tour for all visitors, according to the report.