educators at millwood public schools in oklahoma city had been working under a law nearly identical to the one in texas that would ban concepts that could make students feel discomfort or guilt. but some teachers aren't budging. >> let's go before the massacre. what do you know about greenwood the city? >> reporter: today's lesson is about the tulsa race massacre and why a white mom burned down black homes and businesses in a city called greenwood in 1921. >> the plan there probably makes you terrified. you're probably sitting there, froze, looking out, all the businesses are gone. >> i would have felt a little bit of animosity towards them. it's the whole fact of the situation. you came into my hometown, killed my people, and then y'all going to dispose of our bodies without a proper burial. that's crazy. >> reporter: her students are only in eight grade, but intensely aware of the politics around them. >> we're smarter than we look. we know what's happening in america. >> you want to grow to tell your kids about your story and not your kids tell them about your own. >> at the end of

i answered to the local school board and i have the support of my school board. >> reporter: millwood is the exception. next door in texas several school boards are struggling to interpret new laws and protect employees. in south lake, texas, nbc news obtained exclusive audio of an administrator telling panicked teachers that they would balance books about the holocaust with an opposing view. >> make sure if you have a book on the holocaust, that you have one that has opposing -- >> how do you oppose the holocaust. >> believe me. that's come up. >> the administrator in the audio has not responded. in katy, texas, the school canceled and then postponed an event with a prominent black book author. the second and most stringent of the anti-crt laws. >> when you look at what's happening are around the state right now, you don't think if any of this has gone off the rails? >> i think folks need to focus on what's in the bill, not what's in other states or things we've heard. if we were to tell little white children they are inherently oppress source, that's not good. if we tell little chil