Lisa Graustein's "The Historical Roots of Inequity and Resistance in Public Education"
1. Overview
• To frame current issues and patterns within
their historical context
• To highlight actions towards equity
• To engage in deeper understanding of the
intertwined complexities of public education
2. Flow
• Introduction & overview
• Conversation & community building
• Presentation of history
• Reflection & analysis
• Questions & Discussion
3. At your table:
• Please share your names, where you are
coming from today, and your pronouns, if you
want.
• What brought you here today?
• What are the education issues that you care
about most?
4.
5.
6.
7. Queer Youth & Schools
1 in 10 LGB youth report
missing school in the last 30
days due to safety concerns.
40% of LGB youth have
seriously considered suicide,
29% have attempted in the last
12 months.
This most recent national
study did not include
transgender or genderqueer
youth.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Queer youth Straight youth
Bullied at School
9. Student vs. Staff Demographics, CT
92.2%
White
3% Black
3.50%
Hispanic
1.10%
Asian 0.10%
Other
Teachers by Racial Groups 2015
59.6%
White13%
Black
20.4%
Hispanic
4.5%
Asian
0.4%
AI/AN/H/
PI 2.1% Two
or more
races
Students by Racial Groups 2012-
2013
10.
11. Gloria Ladson-Billings
From the Achievement
Gap to the Education
Debt: Understanding
Achievement in U.S.
Schools
Available at:
http://ed618.pbworks.com/f/From%2520Achievement%
2520Gap%2520to%2520Education%2520Debt.pdf
12.
13. Some ways to listen to history:
• Laws are only made to stop people from doing
something they are already doing (and often
doing a fair amount of)
• Resistance is in response to rules – spoken or
unspoken – that one group exerts on another
• Pay attention to who is missing and ask why?
• Listen for the messages being given – explicitly or
implicitly
14. 100,000-60,000 years ago
First Peoples inhabit
western hemisphere
according to
Indigenous scholars.
White scholars put
this date at 12,000
years ago.
Image: Dr. Paulette Steeves
16. ~4500 BCE to present
The Mahican, Minisink, Mohegan,
Pequot, Nipmuc, and Quiripi Peoples
live on and tend the land that is
currently called Connecticut.
17. 1614, 1633
1614 Dutch sailor travels up
Connecticut River, 1633 Dutch
set up a fort and church on
the land that is currently
known as Hartford.
18. 1619
The first enslaved Africans
are brought to the British
Colony of Virginia (current US
commonwealth of Virginia)
19. 1637
Captain John Mason leads
colonists to victory in war
with the Pequots and
expands the European
colonization of what is
currently known as
Connecticut.
20. 1638
Thomas Hooker founds the
Latin School to educate white
young men in Greek and Latin
in preparation for entering
the ministry.
21. 1646
William Plaine is executed in
New Haven for having had sex
with another man. Several more
men will be executed in CT over
the next century until the
punishment for gay sex
becomes life imprisonment.
22. 1666
In May 1666, the Connecticut Colony
adopts county government and
establishes four counties: Fairfield,
Hartford, New Haven, and New London,
with four others added in 1785. The
county governments operate jails and
courts, give out liquor licenses, and deal
with highway and boundary
disagreements between towns.
23. 1701
Connecticut Colony passes “An Act for the
Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School,” hoping to
create an institution “wherein Youth maybe
instructed in the Arts and Sciences who
[through] the blessing of Almighty God may be
fitted for employment in both Church & Civil
State.” It enrolls only white men who can
afford tuition.
24. 1779
Thomas Jefferson proposes a two-
track educational system, with
different tracks in his words for “the
laboring and the learned.”
Scholarship would allow a very few of
the laboring class to advance,
Jefferson says, by “raking a few
geniuses from the rubbish.”
25. 1785
The Continental Congress passes a law
calling for a survey of the “Northwest
Territory” which included what was to
become the state of Ohio. The law created
“townships,” reserving a portion of each
township for a local school. From these
“land grants” eventually came the U.S.
system of “land grant universities,” the state
public universities that exist today. The
Native Americans living on these lands are
forcibly removed.
26. 1790
Pennsylvania state constitution calls
for free public education but only for
poor children. It is expected that rich
people will pay for their children’s
schooling.
27. Table Talk
• What are your reactions to the history so far?
• What were the original purposes of public
education?
• How does this history connect to the issue(s)
you identified as being most important?
28. 1805
New York Public School Society is formed by
wealthy businessmen to provide education
for poor children. Schools are run on the
“Lancasterian” model, in which one
“master” can teach hundreds of students in
a single room. The master gives a rote
lesson to the older students, who then pass
it down to the younger students. These
schools emphasize discipline and obedience
qualities that factory owners want in their
workers.
29. 1817
The Connecticut Asylum for
the Education and Instruction
of Deaf and Dumb Persons
opens in Hartford for white
students with a charter from
the CT general assembly. Later
renamed the American School
for the Deaf, it becomes one of
the centers of deaf culture and
language in the US. Black
students are not admitted until
after 1865.
30. 1833
Prudence Crandall opens
boarding school for
African American girls in
Canterbury, CT. White
animosity against this
school results in CT "Black
Codes" and the eventual
closure of the school due
to multiple physical
attacks.
31. 1820-1860
The percentage of people working in agriculture
plummets as family farms are gobbled up by larger
agricultural businesses and people are forced to look
for work in towns and cities. At the same time, cities
grow tremendously, fueled by new manufacturing
industries, the influx of people from rural areas and
many immigrants from Europe. During the 10 years
from 1846 to 1856, 3.1 million immigrants arrive a
number equal to one eighth of the entire U.S.
population. Owners of industry needed a docile,
obedient workforce and look to public schools to
provide it.
32. 1830’s
By this time, most
southern states have
laws forbidding
teaching people in
slavery to read. Even
so, around 5%
become literate at
great personal risk.
33. 1840’s
Over a million Irish immigrants arrive
in the United States, driven out of
their homes in Ireland by the potato
famine. Irish Catholics in northern
cities struggle for local neighborhood
control of schools as a way of
preventing their children from being
force-fed a Protestant curriculum.
34. 1848
Massachusetts Reform School at
Westboro opens, where children who
have refused to attend public schools
are sent. This begins a long tradition
of “reform schools,” which combine
the education and juvenile justice
systems.
35. 1848
The war against Mexico ends with the
signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo,
which gives the United States almost half of
what was then Mexico. This includes all of
what is now the U.S. Southwest, plus parts
of Utah, Nevada and Wyoming and most of
California. The treaty guarantees citizenship
rights to everyone living in these areas,
mostly Mexicans and Native people. It also
guarantees the continued use of the Spanish
language, including in education.
36. 1864
Congress makes it illegal for Native
Americans to be taught in their native
languages. Native children as young as
four years old are taken from their
parents and sent to Bureau of Indian
Affairs off-reservation boarding schools,
whose goal, as one BIA official put it, is
to “kill the Indian to save the man.”
37. June 19, 1865
The day the last enslaved African
Americans learned of their legal right
to freedom, more than two years
after the Emancipation Proclamation
was signed into law.
38. 1865-1877
African Americans mobilize to
bring public education to their
communities. After the Civil
War, and with the legal end of
slavery, African Americans in
the South make alliances with
white Republicans to push for
many political changes,
including for the first time
rewriting state constitutions to
guarantee free public
education. In practice, white
children benefit more than
Black children.
39. 1877-1900
Reconstruction ends in 1877 when
federal troops, which had occupied
the South since the end of the Civil
War are withdrawn. Whites regain
political control of the South and lay
the foundations of legal segregation.
40. 1882 - 1943
President Arthur signs the Chinese
Exclusion Act, prohibiting the
immigration of Chinese people into the
U.S. for fear of “endangering the good
order of certain localities.” Later
versions of this act severely restrict
immigration, deny Chinese women the
right to immigrate, and result in the
deportation of 1000’s of people.
41. 1893-1913
Size of school boards in the country’s 28
biggest cities is cut in half. Most local district
based positions are eliminated, in favor of
city-wide elections. This means that local
immigrant communities lose control of their
local schools. Makeup of school boards
changes from small local businessmen and
some wage earners to professionals (like
doctors and lawyers), big businessmen and
other members of the richest classes.
42. 1896
Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The U.S.
Supreme Court rules that the state of
Louisiana has the right to require
“separate but equal” railroad cars for
Blacks and whites. This decision means
that the federal government officially
recognizes segregation as legal. One
result is that southern states pass laws
requiring racial segregation in public
schools.
43. 1898
The U.S. ends the Spanish-American
War and signs the Treaty of Paris with
Spain. As part of the treaty, Puerto Rico,
Guam, and the Philippines come under
U.S. military control. Public school
systems are begun in Puerto Rico as
part of U.S. control. Puerto Ricans do
not gain citizenship until 1917.
44. Table Talk
• What are your reactions to this part of the
history?
• What are the unfolding purposes and tensions
in public edcuation?
• How does this history connect to the issue(s)
you identified as being most important?
45. 1905
The U.S. Supreme Court
requires California to extend
public education to the
children of Chinese
immigrants.
46. 1912
New Mexico enters the union as an
officially bilingual state, authorizing
funds for voting in both Spanish
and English, as well as for bilingual
education. Article XII of the state
constitution also prohibits
segregation for children of
"Spanish descent."
47. 1917
Smith-Hughes Act passes, providing
federal funding for vocational
education. Big manufacturing
corporations push this, because they
want to remove job skill training from
the apprenticeship programs of trade
unions and bring it under their own
control.
48. 1920’s-1940’s
In the 1920s, many African Americans
move from the rural South to work in
factories in the North. In 1937, the
Home Owners’ Loan Corporation
(HOLC) issues a map "redlining" areas
with a high concentration of minorities
as riskier for mortgage defaults. Due to
this and this use of restrictive
covenants, blacks are nearly eliminated
from the suburban housing market.
50. 1921
San Antonio's Orden Hijos de América
(Order of the Sons of America)
organizes Latino workers to raise
awareness of civil rights issues and
fight for fair wages, education and
housing.
51. 1924
An act of Congress makes Native Americans
U.S. citizens for the first time, suffrage being a
right of citizenship.
52. 1930-1950’s
The NAACP brings a series of
suits over unequal teachers’
pay for Blacks and whites in
southern states. At the same
time, southern states realize
they are losing African
American labor to the
northern cities. These two
sources of pressure resulted
in some increase of
spending on Black schools in
the South.
53. 1932
A survey of 150 school districts
reveals that three quarters of them
are using so-called intelligence
testing to place students in different
academic tracks. Later research will
validate that these tests do not
measure intelligence.
54. 1942-1946
Executive Act 9066 orders the forced
removal of over 120,000 Japanese
Americans to internment camps. Those
about receive their degrees from the
University of California system don't. (It is
not until the 2000's that survivors of the
camps get their diplomas).
55. 1945
At the end of World War 2, the G.I. Bill of
Rights gives thousands of working class men
college scholarships for the first time in U.S.
history. However, the ability of Black men
living in the South to access colleges is
significantly limited. While the legislation
was race-neutral, the impact was a
significant increase in the disparity between
white and Black men accessing college
educations.
56. 1947
Mexican-American parents
sue several California school
districts, challenging the
segregation of Latino
students in separate schools.
The California Supreme Court
rules in the parents' favor in
Mendez v. Westminster,
arguing segregation violates
children's constitutional
rights. The case is an
important precedent for
Brown vs. Board of Education.
57. 1948
Educational Testing Service is formed, merging
the College Entrance Examination Board, the
Cooperative Test Service, the Graduate Records
Office, the National Committee on Teachers
Examinations and others, with huge grants from
the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations.
These testing services found their work on and
continued the work of eugenicists like Carl
Brigham (originator of the SAT) who did
research “proving” that immigrants were
feeble-minded.
58. 1954
Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka.
The Supreme Court
unanimously agrees
that segregated
schools are
“inherently unequal”
and must be
abolished.
59. 1957
A federal court orders integration
of Little Rock, Arkansas public
schools. Governor Orval Faubus
sends his National Guard to
physically prevent nine African
American students from enrolling
at all-white Central High School.
Reluctantly, President Eisenhower
sends federal troops to enforce
the court order not because he
supports desegregation, but
because he can’t let a state
governor use military power to
defy the U.S. federal government.
60. Table Talk
• What are your reactions to this part of the
history?
• What are the emerging patterns of control
and resistance?
• How does this history connect to the issue(s)
you identified as being most important?
61. 1965
President Johnson
signs the Elementary
and Secondary
Education Act,
providing funding for
the inclusion of some
students with
disabilities in public
education.
62. 1968
Latinx high school students in Los
Angeles stage citywide walkouts
protesting unequal treatment by the
school district. Prior to the walkouts,
Latinx students were routinely
punished for speaking Spanish on
school property, not allowed to use
the bathroom during lunch, and
actively discouraged from going to
college. Walkout participants are
subjected to police brutality and
public ridicule; 13 are arrested on
charges of disorderly conduct and
conspiracy. However, the walkouts
eventually result in school reform
and an increased college enrollment
among Latinx youth.
63. 1968 & 1969
The Black Panthers and the Young Lords begin free
breakfast-before-school programs for African American,
Latinx, and other youth who are struggling with food
insecurity and school systems that do not provide
adequate food.
64. 1973
US Supreme Court rules that a
free public education is not a
“fundamental right” under the
14th amendment/Constitution in
San Antonio Independent School
District v. Rodriguez
65. 1974
Milliken v. Bradley. A Supreme Court
made up of Richard Nixon’s
appointees rules that schools may
not be desegregated across school
districts. This effectively legally
segregates students of color in inner-
city districts from white students in
wealthier white suburban districts.
66. 1975
The Education for All
Handicapped Children Act
and the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act
establishes the right to
public education of
students with disabilities
and require schools to
provide individualized or
special education for
students with disabilities.
67. 1980’s
The federal Tribal Colleges Act establishes a
community college on every Indian reservation, which
allows young people to go to college without leaving
their families.
68. 1994
Proposition 187 passes in California,
making it illegal for children of
undocumented immigrants to attend
public school. Federal courts hold
Proposition 187 unconstitutional, but
anti-immigrant feeling spreads across
the country.
69. 1996
Sheff v. O'Neill Supreme Court decision that
state must afford Connecticut's school children
with a equal educational opportunity,
unimpaired by racial and ethnic isolation.
70. 1996
California passes Proposition 209,
which outlaws affirmative action in
public employment, public
contracting and public education.
Other states jump on the bandwagon
with their own initiatives and right
wing elements hope to pass similar
legislation on a federal level.
71. 1997, 2011
Connecticut amends General Statue
10-15c to include “sexual
orientation” to the list of identities
protected from discrimination in
public schools. “Gender identity or
expression” is not added until 2011.
73. 2010
The Texas School Board adopts
revisions to the Texas social studies
curriculum. The revised curriculum
plays down the role of Thomas
Jefferson among the founding fathers,
questions the separation of church and
state, and claims that the U.S.
government was infiltrated by
Communists during the Cold War.
74. 2011
Public Act 11-181 calls for the creation
of a coordinated, comprehensive
system of early care, education and
development system. In 2013, School
Governance Councils are created, in
compliance with 11-181 to enable
parents, school staff, students (where
appropriate), and community leaders to
work together to improve student
achievement.
75. 2011
The Arizona state-legislature passes bill (HB
2281) that effectively bans the Ethnic
Studies program in Tucson’s largest school
district. The new law prohibits any curricula
that: Promote the overthrow of the United
States government; promote resentment
toward a race or class of people; are
designed primarily for pupils of a particular
ethnic group; advocate ethnic solidarity
instead of the treatment of pupils as
individuals.
76. 2015
138,930 copies of this
book were sold to
school districts in
Texas
Source:
http://www.newsweek.com/company-
behind-texas-textbook-calling-slaves-
workers-apologizes-we-made-380168
77. Table Talk
• What are your reactions to the history?
• How does this history connect to the issue(s)
you identified as being most important?
• What would you like to see addressed going
forward?
Source: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2014/05/04/88962/teacher-diversity-revisited/
Thanks for Rachel Heerema for making the chart!
