This year, a cloud hangs over Black History Month. New laws or directives in at least 13 states restrict what can be taught and how it can be discussed. Black teachers of history and social studies feel everything they say or do is under a microscope; many are playing it safe and pulling back. And Black parents and students — who want more, not less, Black history — are alarmed that schools in so many states are skirting the breadth of the Black American experience.

For them, it’s not just Black History Month that’s endangered. It’s Black history itself.

“To just give children some sanitized, watered-down version of history that doesn’t address the historical context and the truth doesn’t work,” said Amani, who is also executive director of the Southern Birth Justice Network, which advocates for Black maternal health. That’s “not at all what I want for my children,” she said.