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Massachusetts Bay General Court decrees that every town of 50 families should have an elementary school
Every town of 50 families should have an elementary school, and every town of 100 families should have a Latin school. Schools were very religion based at the time, teaching bible studies instead of academics. -
Pennsylvania calls for free public education for the poor.
it was expected that the rich will still pay for their children's schooling. -
Petition in Boston Town Meeting calls for free public primary schools.
The main support came from local merchants, businessmen, and wealthier artisans, where more wage earners opposed it due to the implication that taxes would be raised. -
First public high school opens in Boston.
the first public high school opened in Boston, called Boston English. -
Massachusetts makes public school free.
The state of Massachusetts passed a law that made all grades of public school open to all pupils free of charge. -
Massachusetts Reform School at Westboro opens
Massachusetts Reform School opened, where children who refused to attend public school were sent. This began a long tradition of 'reform schools' that combine education with the juvenile justice system. -
Massachusetts passes its first compulsory education law.
This law was enacted to make sure that children of poor families could become 'civilized' and learn obedience, so they can make good workers in the future. -
Congress makes it illegal for Native Americans to be taught in their native languages
The goal of of the Bureau of Indian affairs was to, "kill the Indian to save the man." -
Louisiana passes Separate Car Act
This act required separate accommodations for black and white people on railroads, including separate railway cars -
Landmark Plessy v. Ferguson Decision
Homer Plessy purchased a first-class ticket and boarded a 'whites only' car, after which he was asked to vacate and go to a designated 'blacks only' car. Plessy refused, and was immediately arrested. The Supreme court upheld the Separate Car Act with a 7-1 vote, meaning the Federal government officially recognized segregation as legal. Southern states subsequently passed segregation laws for public schools. -
California extends public education to the children of Chinese Immigrants
The U.S. supreme court required this. -
Native Americans are now U.S. citizens
An act of congress allowed Native Americans to be U.S. Citizens -
Landmark Brown v. Board of Education Topeka Decision
In 1951, a class action suit was filed by 13 parents against the Board of Education of Topeka. This suit was in response to a school refusing to enroll black children that lived close, instead forcing them to bus to a segregated school farther away. In a 9–0 decision issued in 1954, the Supreme Court held that separate school facilities are "inherently unequal", and therefore laws that impose them violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Landmark Engel v. Vitale Decision
In 1962 the Board of Regents of New York approved a prayer for their morning procedures. A group of families brought forward a case arguing that opening a school day with a prayer violated the Establishment Cause of the First Amendment. This clause states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". In a 6-1 decision, congress upheld the argument that reciting a government written prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause. -
Landmark Wisconsin v. Yoder Decision
Per Amish church standards, higher education was considered unnecessary and potentially damaging to their salvation. Three students in New Glarus, Wisconsin stopped attending school after 8th grade due to their parent's religious beliefs. The Supreme Court found that Amish students could not be placed under compulsory education past the 8th grade, because the parent's right to freedom of religion outweighed the state's interest to educate their children. -
Title IX
Title IX was a follow-up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was passed to end discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Title IX is part of the Education Amendments of 1972, and prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program that receives government funding. -
Education for All Handicapped Children
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted in 1975 and stated that any public school receiving government funding must provide equal access to education to all students regardless of physical ability. The act also contained a provision stating that disabled students should be placed in the least restrictive environment possible, allowing them to have maximum opportunities to interact with non-impaired children. -
Landmark Plyler v. Doe Decision
Texas courts passed laws that withheld funds for educating children that had not legally been admitted into the United States. They also authorized school districts to deny admission to these children. The Supreme Court struck down these laws in a 5-4 decision, stating that because undocumented immigrants are people "in any ordinary sense of the term" they had protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.