Stolen Education

docx

School

Capella University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

HIS 1000

Subject

History

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by CoachRock10698

Stolen Education The Legacy of Hispanic Racism in Schools “ Stolen Education” sheds light to a part of our history that has a great impact in education for Mexican Americans today and because of that case, “the inheritance of courage and accomplishment demonstrated in 1956 by the children and parents of Driscoll are left for children and parents today”. Enrique Aleman, Jr. Ph.D. created a documentary, starting from his mother’s personal experiences, in order to shed some light on how segregation affected “Tejanos” (Stolen Education). Tejanos have had their own long history toward desegregation in education. Even after the Brown v. Board of Education decision 2 ”stripped away constitutional sanctions for segregation by race, and made equal opportunity in education the law of the land” (Segregation). Aleman, Jr., after learning of his mother’s difficult past, sets on a path to uncover the hidden story behind the discrimination in Driscoll, and to document actual people’s experiences. Aleman, Jr., used a form of questioning in order to demonstrate a story of how segregation stole these children’s future. In a time during the Civil Rights Era, where segregation was supposed to be removed from our school systems, the Anglo community, which composed most of the School Boards, used loopholes to stunt the Mexican Americans education (Stolen Education). Aleman Jr., speculated as to why such systems were put in place, such as (“keeping a racist structure in place” (Stolen Education 0:03:06) and to keep them as laborers (Stolen Education 0:54:25). Unfortunately for many of these children, they were robbed of their potential and dreams, but because of their bravery coming forward they were able to make an impacting difference. Aleman Jr., goes on to say “We had leaders in our community and they were willing to put up a fight, a struggle for better opportunities for their kids. That’s a story that’s not often told in our

textbooks and in our history. We should understand that our grandparents were part of that activism and part of that leadership” (KWRG). Aleman Jr. , further discusses his film on how strategically it couldn’t have been done at a better time. This case was in line right after the Brown v. Board of Education and many other desegregation cases all around the country (KWRG) such as the “Little Rock Nine”(Teach Us All). Throughout the history of the United States, African Americans are usually the focus point in most history books when it comes to segregation, due to many of the large scale national issues were in effort toward the protection of the African American communities in the south post-Civil War. After the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, the United States went through the “Reconstruction Era”. Core beliefs of the Confederate States were that slaves were a necessity for commerce in the south, and to now see them as equals caused many violent acts towards the blacks in order to reassert white supremacy. In the late 1870’s the Democratic dominated legislature passed laws to impose legal segregation in public facilities and transportation, “separate but equal” Jim Crow Laws. After the Brown v Board of Education in 1954, many of the southern states followed the Southern Manifesto in 1956. As a result of these acts, the state of Texas has had a very uphill battle in order to desegregate. To segregate is “the separation of (an ethnic, racial, religious, or other minority group) from the dominant majority”, meaning that along with the African Americans, Hispanics would fall under the same unfair practices. Mexican Americans had already been subject to segregation ever since the Texas Revolution. Segregation in Texas predominantly affected both African and Mexican Americans in schools, residential districts, employment, and politics, causing events like the incident in Driscoll (Stolen Education) and Mansfield (Hanson).

In conclusion, “Stolen Education” is a step in the right direction, enlightening future generations of the struggles the children and parents of Driscoll had to go through. This was all in an effort so that the discrimination toward Mexican Americans in schools would stop, and to create a strong precedence to stop future forms of segregation. Many history books will continue to teach our children that when envisioning segregation, it brings to mind the struggle of the African American community and in no way diminishing their efforts but alongside them; show that people have made a difference for the better of Tejanos. “Teach Us All” was another documentary whose focus point is to recant some of the experiences from the past to enable us to see a clear vision of our future. Although signs of segregation still exist today, changes still need to be made. We are all charged with making a difference and that’s what we need to do (Lowman).

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Aleman Jr., “Stolen Education”, Kanopy , Director Rudy Luna, Writters Enrique Aleman Jr., Rudy Luna, AlemanLuna Productions, 28 April 2013, https://utsa.kanopy.com/video/stolen- education . Deleon and Calvert, “Segregation”, TSHA , Texas State Historical Association, 3 Jun 2013, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pks01 Allsup, “Hernandez v. Driscoll CISD”, TSHA , Texas State Historical Association, 15 June 2015, https://tshaonline.org/handbok/online/articles/jrh02 “Separate but Equal: The Law of the Land”, National Museum of American History, http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/separate-but-equal.html Lowman, “Teach Us All”, Netflix , Director/Writer Sonia Lowman, March 2017, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80198423? trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C3%2C0621df8c6fe0c761bae469a07563215b8404192b %3Afefb14590ff59238580791960b2ecd1b7cb162cd%2C%2C “Segregate”, Dictionary , Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/segregate “The Film "Stolen Education" Sheds Light On Lawsuit That Changed Education In Texas And U.S.”, KRWG, by News Editors and Partners, 4 Apr 2014, http://www.krwg.org/post/film-stolen- education-sheds-light-lawsuit-changed-education-texas-and-us “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom”, LOC , Library of Congress, 10 Sep 2014 – 2 Jan 2016, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/civil-rights-era.html Hanson, “Mansfield (Texas) School Desegregation Incident (1955-1965)”, BlackPast.org , Hanson, Gayle W. https://blackpast.org/aaw/mansfield-texas-school-desegregation-incident- 1955-1965

Stolen Education

Related Documents