Deculturalization and the Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality Struggle for Equality

A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States

By: Joel Spring

Presented by: Heather Nast, Lauren Finelli and Andrew Reder

Racial ViolenceRacial Violence

Throughout history...US Civil WarTrail of Death19th century ChineseEnslaved Africans Race riots in 19th and 20th

centuriesZoot Suit riotsCivil Rights Movement

In EducationProtestants and

Catholics in 1840’sPunishment of

enslaved AfricansRacial clashesSchool integration

riotsCurrent debates

GlobalizationGlobalizationGlobalization- begins when

Columbus arrives in the Americas in 1492 and links the world trade routes

Civilized v. uncivilized- Christian v. Pagan

Religious SuperiorityReligious Superiority

CatholicsReligious hereticsCatholics schools

developed the private school sect

ProtestantThe superior beliefReferred to as

“public” schoolsMostly anti-Catholic

(obvious in government life)

*** Lead to the Catholic/Protestant school riots over religious doctrines

Race, Racism and CitizenshipRace, Racism and CitizenshipRace- primarily a social constructionRacism- prejudice plus power

Educational Methods for Global Educational Methods for Global Cultural EncountersCultural Encounters

Cultural GenocideDeculturalizationAssimilationCultural PluralismDenial of EducationHybridity

Educational and Cultural Educational and Cultural DifferencesDifferencesColonistsChild-rearing-

discipline, authority and memorization (break the will of the child)

School- formal settingWork- activity

provided protection against sin

Political power- only men

Native Americans

Child-rearing- quite dismissive

School- informal, educated by stories told by the elders

Work- only for what they needed

Political power- held by some women

Early Native Early Native American American Educational Educational ProgramsPrograms

Failed establishment of Henrico College

Praying townsDartmouth CollegeMoor’s Charity School

5 Civilized Tribes5 Civilized TribesChoctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw,

Creek and Seminole tribesGovernment wanted their landFelt like the nuclear family and

the establishment of a formal government was leaked to the need for a nuclear family

Hoped for a cash economy to develop

Native Americans: Native Americans: Deculturalization, Schooling, and Deculturalization, Schooling, and GlobalizationGlobalization

Native Americans as Indigenous people

The Naturalization Act of 1790 excluded them from citizenship of the U.S.

SchoolingSchoolingThomas McKenney thought

schooling would socially control Native Americans and improve their society

He introduced schools to Indian tribes as “experiments”◦White Missionary teachers- American

Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)

◦1819 Civilization Fund Act

Native American language Native American language and cultureand culture

Sequoyah created a written language to preserve their history, religions, and culture◦Elias Boudinot created Cherokee

Phoenix in 1828

Indian RemovalIndian RemovalAndrew Jackson worried that

education was giving Indians the power to resist the U.S. government

Indian Removal Act of 1830◦Trail of Tears

Once settled they began setting up schools and governments◦The Spencer, Armstrong, & New

Hope AcademiesCherokees were almost 100%

literate!

Reservations and Boarding Reservations and Boarding SchoolsSchoolsCharles E. Mix said that the U.S.

had made great errors when dealing with the tribes

1867 Indian Peace Commission

Boarding schools take children to strip away their native culture◦Carlisle Indian School &Hampton-

Richard Pratt

Poor conditions- how are they to learn?

Meriam Report in 1928

African Americans: African Americans: Deculturalization, Deculturalization, Transformation, and Transformation, and SegregationSegregation“Diaspora”British, Spanish, and Portuguese

imperialists moved enslaved Africans to North American and other locations

North- societies with the slavesSouth- slave societies (plantation

life)Two ways denial of education laws

can be used

“Creole”

Increase demand of slaves◦Devastating tolls on newly arrived

slaves◦Free slaves still had restrictions

Petitions to gradually abolish slavery in the North

Educational SegregationEducational Segregation

Freedom vs. Equality

Segregated schools◦Reading and writing in English◦Unequal funding

Discrimination

Boston Fights for Equal Boston Fights for Equal EducationEducationMassachusetts Education Act of

1789◦Funding

Benjamin Robert’s daughter- First separate-but-equal ruling in judicial history

1855 Massachusetts governor signed a law that said no child can be denied admission based on race/religion

Slaves were not allowed to readAlthough many of them learned

◦Helped the slaves learn about what was happening in the Civil War

“Darky act” or “trickers”

African Americans had to obey the government, but was not allowed to have a say in it

The Fourteenth Amendment Section 1◦Homer Plessy

First CrusadeFirst CrusadeFirst: literacy

◦Former slaves established schools◦Trying to improve political and

economic standings ◦Booker T. Washington

“cast down its buckets and use black workers”

◦W.E.B. Du Bois NAACP

◦General Samuel Armstrong Hampton and segregated industrial

education

Second CrusadeSecond Crusade

1910- 1930s, Expansion of segregated schools paid by individual supporters and government

The Anna T. Jeanes Fund & The Julius Rosenwald Fund

Asians: Shifting ViewsAsians: Shifting ViewsGenerally speaking, White efforts

at deculturization focused on the denial of education and separation of Asian populations from White populations

The nature of Asian immigration caused treatment to shift much faster than any other group

Coming to AmericaComing to AmericaChinese: Moving around since 15th century

◦First major wave was Gold Rush 1850s in California

◦Paid their own way, not enough money to get back

◦Ended up working on railroads or in agricultureJapanese: Late start

◦1639 law forbade foreign travel◦Immigration started in 1868 to Hawaii and

California

Other Asian PopulationsOther Asian PopulationsSmall amounts (<10,000) from

Korea and IndiaIn 1907 a large Filipino migration

beganOther Asians not significant until

Immigration Act of 1965

White ViewsWhite Views

Until 1960s, major views were:◦“Coolie”

low cost, servile labor Born from railroad workers/farmhands

◦“Deviant” Immoral, sexually permissive Born from opium dens and prostitution

◦Combined as “Yellow Peril”

Push and PullPush and Pull

Asian immigration started relatively late, when big pushes for more equal rights were starting

“Coolie” legislation often clashed with “Deviant” legislation

Many of most repressive laws were reversed soon after being enacted

Example: San FransiscoExample: San Fransisco1872: All White students to be

educated1884: Imperial Chinese Consulate

complains◦SF School board specifically bars

“Mongolians”1885: Superior Court overrules SF1885: Segregated schools

implemented1906: Forced integration to avoid

international incident

A New ImageA New ImageWWII

◦Japanese Internment◦Asians differentiated

1950s, the Model Minority

Latinos: Location, LocationLatinos: Location, LocationBiggest Latino influxes came

from conquest◦1848: End of Mexican-American War

US gained California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas

◦1898: End of Spanish-American War US gained Puerto Rico, the Philippines,

Guam and naval base in Cuba

Similar View, Different Similar View, Different TreatmentTreatmentLatinos: mix of Indian (not white) and

Spanish (white on a technicality)◦Generally regarded as Indians or worse

Mexicans valued as cheap labor◦Education was

denied/neglected/segregatedPuerto Ricans feared as too

independent◦Education was forced in order to

“Americanize”

Puerto Rico: A dream Puerto Rico: A dream snatched awaysnatched awayStrong independence movement

since 1860sMade “autonomous state” in

1897◦Constitutional Republic with Spanish

GovernorConquered in 1898

Puerto Rico: Winning Hearts Puerto Rico: Winning Hearts and Mindsand Minds“Put an American schoolhouse in every

valley and upon every hilltop”Education used as a weapon to inspire

loyalty◦English-only past first grade◦American History over Puerto Rican History◦Celebration of American holidays

Biggest tension was over English LanguageStarting in 1912, calls for Bilingual

education

Mexicans: Kept poor and Mexicans: Kept poor and dumbdumbSimilar Policies to Puerto Rico to

inspire patriotismAlmost never enforced

◦“Educating the Mexican is educating them away from the job, away from the dirt”

Those that did go to school were segregated

Globalization: The Great Civil Globalization: The Great Civil Rights Movement and Wars of Rights Movement and Wars of LiberationLiberation

InternationallyDeclaration on the

Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples

DomesticallyDiscrimination

everywhereDeculturalization

and school segregation was part of a general global movement

School Desegregation School Desegregation NAACP- desegregation and

opportunity to participate in economic system

1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Topeka

Public demonstrations to take actionLack of supervision to make sure

segregation endedCORE, SNCC, SCLC

Reverend Martin Luther Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.King, Jr.King was born in 1929 into a

family of Baptist MinistersIntroduction of nonviolent

confrontation1957 Southern Christian

Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Continued…Continued…Rosa Parks1957 “Give us the Ballot…”

speech to Washington, DCCivil Rights Act of 1964

◦Titles 4 & 6

Contrast: Asian Contrast: Asian ExperienceExperienceDuring this time, “Model

Minority” view became popularContrasted to Black experienceObscured reality of Asian

Experience

In 1961, 450 Indians attended the American Indian Chicago Conference ◦End to termination policies

John F. Kennedy◦More Indian participation in decisions

involving federal policiesStruggle for self-determination

◦Pan-Indian Movement

Indian Education: A National Indian Education: A National TragedyTragedyBilingual Education Act of 1968Indian Self-Determination and

Education Assistance Act of 1975Tribally Controlled Schools ActNative American Languages Act

of 1990

Bilingual EducationBilingual Education1951: Puerto Rico becomes

commonwealthSpanish restored

1968 Boycotts in LABilingual Education Act of 1968Official language disputes

Multicultural Education, Multicultural Education, Immigration and the Cultural Immigration and the Cultural WarsWars

1965 Immigration Act that abolished the 1924 Immigration Act (and the quota system)

Multicultural education roseEthnocentric schools (go back

to segregation)

Cultural Wars cont. and Cultural Wars cont. and NCLBNCLB

Mandatory standardized tests only measure one culture

Bilingual education be used as a vehicle for learning English

2121STST Century: Post- Racial Century: Post- Racial SocietySocietyPost-racial- a society where race is

no longer important in determining social status and income◦However, government agencies state

that the concept of race has no scientific or anthropological meaning but persist in using racial categories in their reports

◦Socially constructed in contrast to legal or administrative definitions of race

In ComparisonIn Comparison

Race and income◦ 1- all white◦ 2- white (Hispanic or

Latino)◦ Least- Black or

African American

Drop out rates (1972-2006)◦ 1- Hispanic◦ 2- Black◦ 3- Whites

Is the US a Post-Racial Is the US a Post-Racial SocietySociety

YES◦ Racial categories are

no longer recognized, by government agencies, as having scientific or anthropological meaning

◦ Because race is a confusing term taking on many different meanings among post-1965 immigrants

◦ Since post-1965 immigrants are not facing any overt attempts as Deculturalization and Americanization

NO◦ Many native-born whites and

blacks still think in the racial categories created by law and judicial decisions from the 18th century to the Civil Rights Movements

◦ Since government agencies require the use of racial categories

◦ The legacy of race-based laws and Deculturalization still contribute to educational and economic inequality

◦ Since many immigrants from Mexico and Central America as assimilation into native-born Hispanic communities suffering from the legacy of the past