Regardless of what happens at the legislature, it won’t change how some educators teach history. Gray said she’ll continue to promote critical thinking skills for students and generate healthy discussions.
“I don't think telling the truth is divisive,” Gray said. “I don't think anybody, certainly no teacher that I know, is trying to teach students to hate the United States of America or to hate white people. We're trying to show the history of this nation.
“It can be scary, but it's not going to change what I do. I'm not going to miss a beat.”
It’s also been suggested by local activists to allow teachers to do their jobs without extra oversight from the state governments. John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas, the civil rights fellow at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, suggests it should be a local decision.
“I believe in teachers,” he said. “I believe that teachers have the skills to be able to teach this content in a way that their students can understand and digest. It doesn't have to be controlled at the state level.”
Barry McNealy, who is Black, is the historical content expert at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and a social studies teacher at Parker High School. He said it's important for students to learn what to do from history, but also what not to do.
“History shouldn't be a resumé. It shouldn't be something that we edit to stray away from things that are uncomfortable,” he said. “Life is uncomfortable and if we take out those parts of history that are challenging and uncomfortable, then it really negates the purpose of teaching it in the first place.”
McNealy recently spoke at a seminar called “Protect the Truth in Education” sponsored by the institute Project Say Something and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund that gathered education advocates from around the state to discuss concerns and strategies to fight back against the legislation.
“Someone said to me that you should never lie to children because they'll live long enough to find the truth,” he said. “And I don't see a place in my future where I would be willing to tell children things that weren't true.”
The Alabama legislature will discuss its bills related to critical race theory later on in the session, and Mississippi is doing the same. Louisiana legislators have yet to pre-file any bills this year related to the issue.
Kyra Miles is a Report for America corps member reporting on education for WBHM.
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.