As Tennessee bans discussion of critical race theory in the classroom, some worry that the move could impede the state's efforts to diversify its pool of educators. Edna Varner, Erica Kelley and Mark Neal work with Project Inspire, a Public Education Foundation-affiliated teacher residency program in Chattanooga focused on recruiting educators with diverse backgrounds to teach students in schools with high rates of poverty and which have a majority of students of color.

Photographed for The Tennessean.