By Rossi Sealey
In a medium-sized classroom filled to the brim with student in Boylan Hall, Marybeth Tamborra, who was an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College and is a doctoral candidate in modern European and American history at the CUNY Graduate Center, knew that teaching her students about racism and history would lead to one thing: for her students to have a voice.
She was finishing her PhD while teaching a global history course labeled “Shaping of the Modern World” from 2020 to 2023. The class explored themes of capitalism, fascism, and colonization.
“As a teacher, I organized my section of Shaping of the Modern World around the history of capitalism and colonization,” said Tamborra.
Tamborra ensured her students voiced their opinions on these topics and raised awareness at a state and school where she could teach about the history of racism and marginalization.
As of now, President Donald Trump has been reelected and has threatened to cut federal funding from K-12 schools and universities that teach or consider race in any way, as previously reported by The Vanguard. This includes removing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in his executive orders. Schools may be impacted negatively after receiving this letter from the Department of Education: either risk funding or comply with the executive orders.
“Since coming into office, the Trump administration’s executive orders have included sweeping measures to target people of color and to rewrite history,” said Tamborra.
Professors in different states of the U.S., such as Florida, could face termination, restrictions, and injustices from politicians like Governor Desantis, anti-education laws, and educational gag orders (which censor topics from the past). This includes the “Stop The Woke Act” that bans the curriculum materials from the New York Times’s 1619 project. The project notably highlights racism and slavery as being the foundation of the U.S.. Moreover, AP African American Studies in the College Board program has labeled Florida as one of three states that have the course banned, along with Arkansas and South Carolina.
The attack on DEI continues, as more than 30 states have introduced bills to ban or limit it. As of February 2025, several states, including Florida, Texas, and Alabama, have signed at least 13 bills into law, while others await final approval.
According to Statista, states are introducing bills and measures to restrict schools from teaching critical race theory. Eighteen states passed laws and approved measures, while twenty-four states vetoed, overturned, or stalled them indefinitely.
“The point of these orders is to create chaos and fear so that teachers shy away from discussing anything that might not be ‘patriotic,” said Tamborra.
According to a UCLA report, the U.S. government introduced 563 measures to restrict critical race theory and adopted 241. Trump also signed an executive order to combat race and sex stereotyping in 2020.
“The distortion of the truth of Black history has been yet another form of anti-Black violence so prevalent in our country,” said Tamborra.
Teachers cannot teach these necessary topics on inequality with certain curriculums without risking their jobs and livelihoods to speak to students. Tamborra does what she can to at least address the matter in an educational setting.
“As someone who studies Black thinkers, I wanted to emphasize their voices throughout the syllabus,” said Tamborra. “I want my students to read about the Haitian revolution not from a textbook but from CLR James, and I want students to think about colonialism alongside Franz Fanon.”
Tamborra often engages in discussions with her peers, expressing their shared concerns about the potential impact of teaching restrictions in different states on issues related to race, sex, and inequality.
“As a PhD student, many of my peers are deeply worried about getting jobs, and several of my colleagues study queer history, Black history, immigration history, and Palestinian history,” said Tamborra. “At department meetings, I have heard PhD students express anxiety that the spreading bans may result in real consequences in their ability to find jobs.”
Banning scholarship and books that explore the history of racism can lead to censorship for students, especially in a historical setting. This sentiment is shared by others in the history department.
“Book bans harm society by suppressing the spread of knowledge,” Gunja Sengupta, an author and history teacher at BC and the CUNY Graduate Center, stated. “And knowledge about all aspects of our history as a nation, including difficult ones, such as racism, is necessary for us to understand how structures of inequality developed historically.”
Not only are professors such as Tamborra distressed by the bans on education, but students are distressed as well.
“As an AP African American studies high school teacher, I have witnessed the struggles of communities in Virginia and Florida where students and teachers are fighting for inclusion in their curriculum,” said Raphael Nelson, a teacher at Bronx School for Law and a student at Brooklyn College who is pursuing a masters in history. “We must advocate for studies that have been banned because there are organizations all over the country, including Moms for Liberty, who organize around the country to attack materials that promote inequality.”
Tamborra emphasizes the multitude of challenges faced by marginalized groups, particularly Black people. These challenges continue to persist as there are ongoing attempts to erase their generational history, especially in the educational system.
“This anti-Blackness has long attained a very sinister attack on Black history. Part of the violence of anti-Black racism, not only does it attack,” said Tamborra, “but it then denies having done so and blames the victim for his wound.”