The latest battle over how US history is taught in public schools — part of a larger fight over how Americans see themselves — centers on “critical race theory” (CRT). Migrating from academia to the public sphere, CRT has become a catchall term for what, according to conservatives, currently ails the nation: a misguided belief that US society is inherently racist.

The pedagogical skirmish broke out after last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, which concentrated not only on police brutality but symbols of racial tyranny such as Confederate monuments. The attack against applying a critical lens to history has only intensified in 2021. On Thursday, the Florida Board of Education passed a new rule that looks to block critical race theory — “teaching kids to hate their country and hate each other,” in the words of Republican governor Ron DeSantis — from the state’s schools.

A key marker of the current battle was the release of the 1776 Commission report during the waning days of the Trump administration. Lampooned by many historians, the 1776 Commission has become the template for several states seeking to counter the New York Times’ 1619 Project. This year, the South Carolina state legislature debated a bill that would have used the 1776 Commission report for US history in middle- and high-school classrooms.