CNN — Three weeks ago, Brittany Murphree enrolled in Law 743, a unique class for the University of Mississippi. Despite the skepticism from fellow Republican friends and family, the second-year law student wanted to take the class “to see what it’s all about.” “Honestly, I love it,” Murphree told CNN. She feels very respected as a White, Republican student in a class on critical race theory, the first of which to be taught in the state of Mississippi. Critical race theory (CRT) has become a political and social lightning rod with several states banning the concept in the last year. Educators insist that CRT is generally not included in grade school curriculum. The concept is usually taught in graduate-level courses like the one Murphree enrolled in this semester. Yvette Butler, the professor of Law 743, said CRT was born from the legal academy in the 1980s to analyze and understand why racial inequality still exists despite the aftermath of the civil rights movement. It acknowledges that racism is both systemic and institutional in American society and that White people have historically held racial power.