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In 1839
Ohio became the first state to adopt a bilingual education law and authorized German and English as the two languages of instruction. -
In 1847
The state of Louisiana followed Ohio with its own law -
in 1850
The New Mexico Territory followed the suit in 1850. While the two languages were English and French in Louisiana, the same were English and Spanish in case of New Mexico. -
in 1864
, the U.S. Congress passed a draconian law which prohibited Native Americans from learning in their own language as a part of the national policy of Native American assimilation. -
In the 17th century
In the 17th century , European settlers while settling in North America, opened several schools where in the medium of instruction was their local language. They included English as one of the subjects -
in 1923
In 1923, a Supreme Court ruling declared that putting restrictions on foreign language amounts to violation of the XIV Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and thus is unconstitutional. -
IN 1964
In 1964, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of color or race, in any Federally funded program and that encompassed the education system as well. -
In 1968
The Bilingual Education Act was passed -
in 1974
In the Lau v. Nichols case in 1974, Chinese-American students in San Francisco claimed that they were entitled to extra help at school because of their difficulty with English, citing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned educational discrimination based on national origin -
in 1979
In 1979, the Federal administration expenditure on bilingual education $150 million which was significant rise from $7.5 million in 1969. -
in 2001
In 2001, the Bilingual Education Act was replaced by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) which stressed on English acquisition, while putting native-language instruction at the sidelines