Stolen Education

Gr 6 Up—Almost anyone who has studied American history knows of the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, which challenged the constitutionality of racial segregation in public schools. What most people do not know, however, is that there was a similar case just four years later, in 1957, Hernandez et al v. Driscoll CISD, in which the parents of eight Mexican American children in Driscoll, TX, challenged the discriminating practices of the town's school district. This video describes Driscoll and its inhabitants at the time, interviewing the now-grown children and relatives of school administrators, board members, and teachers serving during that period. The film is produced by Enrique Alemán Jr., whose mother was one of the eight who testified at the federal trial. Alemán, associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Utah, decided after his mother passed away in 2002 to investigate the events of a case and trial that has escaped the notice of American history books. The video clearly outlines how these children were discriminated against and how their parents' pleas to school officials were ignored. Through interviews six decades later with five of the eight children, the program sensitively emphasizes the significant impact that this noteworthy trial and period had on their lives.—Sheila Acosta, San Antonio Public Library