The Status of the Historiography of Chicana/o Education in the 21^st Century

ABSTRACT

The study of the historical experiences of the Latina/o population in the public schools formally began in the late 1970s and matured by the end of the century. A status report on the historiography of the education of this group was last done in 2001. Since then a variety of books, book chapters, and articles have been published on the historical experiences of this group in the schools. The following essay reviews the literature that has emerged since the turn of the century and some of the major arguments made by these historians.

KEYWORDS:

• Historiography
• Chicana/o education
• literature review
• 21st century historical studies
• activism
• Race/racialization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ For a different and more critical interpretation of the hunger strike and its aftermath see, (Soldatenko, 2005). Additional insights on the importance of students to the struggle for ethnic studies in general and during the 1990s in particular can be gleaned from (Cabrera et al., 2013) and (Aguilar-Hernández & Bernal, 2018). On the role that students, particularly Chicanas, played in the establishment of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston see, (Rodriguez, 2021).

² For the importance of language in education and its relationship to culture, race, and citizenship see more generally Rosina Lozano, An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States (Berkeley: Univ of Cal Press, 2018). Zevi Gutfreund, “Language Education, Race, and the Remaking of American Citizenship in Los Angeles, 1900–1968,” California History, Vol. 91, No. 2 (Gutfreund, 2014), pp. 76–77 URL:https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/ch.2014.91.2.76; Zevi Gutfreund, Speaking American; Language Education and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles (Gutfreund, 2019).

³ Adams describes the difficulties and frustrations faced by Mexican American children in learning English at a New Mexican elementary school during the early decades of the 20^th century. Although a few were punished for speaking Spanish, others negotiated the English only practices and found ways to pick up the language, at times with the assistance of their parents. See, for instance, (Adams, 2016).

⁴ The intentional development of social and school segregation by the white architects of Mexican American education, i.e., as a result of white intentions, complements the earlier studies indicating that schools became segregated as a result of white flight (De Leon, 2001), encirclement (Camarillo, 1979), or abandonment (Garcia, 1975).

⁵ For one example of the various administrative mechanisms utilized by local school officials to establish segregation in southern California before WWII see Mendez, 1946.

⁶ For further discussions of the various roles played by the Mexican consul in segregation matters in the US during the second decade of the 20^th century see the following: (Goetz, 2020), 49–68; (Donato & Hanson, 2021, pp. 71–100).

⁷ Donato and Hanson also suggest that school segregation of Mexican children is a national pattern when they note that the social separation and mistreatment of Mexicans in St. Louis Missouri and Kansas City were not isolated cases. “They were the rule across much of the United States,” they state. See, (Donato & Hanson, 2021, 127).