Festival de Cine / Film Festival: Stolen Education

Wednesday, March 4, 2015 4:30 PM to 7:10 PM EST
Johnson Center, Cinema

Stolen Education documents the untold story of Mexican-American school children who challenged discrimination in Texas schools in the 1950’s and changed the face of education in the Southwest.

As a 9 year-old second grader, Lupe had been forced to remain in the first grade for three years, not because of her academic performance but solely because she was Mexican American. She was one of eight young students who testified in a federal court case in 1956 to end the discriminatory practice (Hernandez et al. v. Driscoll Consolidated Independent School District), one of the first post-Brown desegregation court cases to be litigated.

Degraded for speaking Spanish and dissuaded from achieving academically, Mexican American students were relegated to a “beginner,” “low,” and then “high” first grade – a practice that was not uncommon across the Southwest. School officials argued in the case that this practice was necessary because the "retardation of Latin children" would adversely impact the education of White children.

The film portrays the courage of these young people, testifying in an era when fear and intimidation were used to maintain racial hierarchy and control. The students won the case, but for almost sixty years the case was never spoken about in the farming community where they lived despite its significance. (Description from The Video Proyect). In English. Trailer

Conversation with Enrique Alemán via Skype and free pizza will follow the screening.

Sponsored by Pragda Films, Spain Arts & Culture, Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Film & Media Studies, University Life, Hispanic Culture Review, Latin American Studies, University Libraries & WGMU Radio at George Mason University..

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