Semester of Graduation

Spring 2026

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Abstract

From the beginning of the Twentieth Century through the 1950s, Mexican American children were subjected to English-only policies in public schools. Although these policies aimed to “Americanize” Spanish-speaking students, they instead relegated them to unequal educational opportunities. Government officials and school administrators enforced segregation and language-based discrimination, creating an environment that ultimately compelled many Mexican American families to abandon Spanish in favor of English. This article argues that the U.S. education system deliberately segregated Mexican American students to control their language use and restrict their access to education, demonstrated through an analysis of relevant laws and court cases. The goal is to reconstruct the school environment that pressured Spanish-speaking families to relinquish their native language. The first two sections examine laws in Arizona, New Mexico, and California that explicitly mandated English-only instruction in public schools. Sections three through five analyze testimony from school administrators in three court cases, highlighting how discriminatory practices were justified. The final section extends beyond the 1950s, exploring the persistence of discrimination through the perspective of a prominent Mexican American professor and leader. Taken together, these examples of discrimination across the twentieth century help to explain why many Mexican American families sought protection through linguistic assimilation, abandoning Spanish in favor of the dominant, “American” language.

Date

3-26-2026

Committee Chair

Zevi Gutfreund

LSU Acknowledgement

1

LSU Accessibility Acknowledgment

1

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Available for download on Friday, March 26, 2027

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