Teaching the Holocaust Just Got Harder in Mississippi

The most dangerous moment in any classroom often comes with a single word: “Why?” When a Holocaust educator shows students a death registry with a black line drawn through her great-uncle’s name, that inevitable question opens the door to understanding—but under Mississippi’s new anti-DEI law, answering it honestly might break the law. House Bill 1193 bans educational content that increases “awareness or understanding” of issues related to race, religion, or national origin, creating an impossible paradox: How do you teach the Holocaust without explaining that Jews were murdered because they were Jewish? The law’s sweeping language threatens to gut everything from constitutional law classes to canonical American literature, leaving Mississippi educators wondering if education itself has become too risky. Margaret McMullan with The Bulwark has the story that puts Mississippi squarely on a slippery slope.

Margaret McMullan

The Bulwark

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