Part 3

Part 3 of the textbook focuses on the time period from the 1950’s through the 1970’s and 1980’s. The book explains how dangerous it was for minority children to receive a quality education. Prior to 1954, schools were legally segregated under the guise of “separate but equal.” As it turned out, the segregated schools were the exact opposite, separate and unequal. White children received more opportunities and resources than minority children. Minority children often had to walk past white schools on their way to their assigned segregated school. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education in Topeka Kansas. The Brown vs. Board of Education case ruled that segregation was illegal and schools had to be desegregated.

Although schools were legally desegregated minority children, disabled children, and female students were still not receiving the same opportunities as white English-speaking male children. President Lydon B. Johnson recognized the importance of a proper education for everyone in the United States and worked tirelessly to change the way public education was being offered. On page 146 President Johnson was described as “Johnson believed that an equal chance at education meant an equal chance at life. He created a wide-ranging series of federal programs, from Head Start to low-cost college loans, to help disadvantaged students. And he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination on the basis of race in all federally funded programs, including schools.” Federal mandates under President Lydon B. Johnson restricted federal funding from schools who did not adhere to desegregation laws and schools who were biased against minorities, disabled, and female students.

In Crystal City Texas in 1970, four of seven seats on the Crystal City School Board were filled by Mexican Americans after an election. School board president Jose Angel Gutierrez is quoted on page 156 “The Monday night meetings of the school board were more powerful than the football game, and the movies on television. People came to the school board meetings by the hundreds to see, because every meeting was like a reform. People had been waiting for centuries for some of these changes.” Gutierrez continues on page 157 saying, “We gave people pride. We showed people that community groups can organize and take power and determine their destiny, and the destiny of their kids, that they can control the schools and the curriculum. I think also the kids themselves feel good that they are part of the movement that made change….It legitimized Chicano studies, with a focus of Chicano and Mexican Americans and our contributions.” The federal programs enacted by President Johnson allowed minority groups across America to take a stand and be represented in their school districts. Eventually, public school systems were required to provide programs for disabled children and broaden opportunities like vocational education and sports to female students.

Historian James Anderson explains on pages 161 and 162, “Title IX says you can’t have one basketball team and tell men and women to come out for it. And we simply take the best players. Title IX said yes, you should have sports for women, you should invest public resources in their development.”