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First Public school
The first schools in the 13 colonies opened in the 17th century. The Boston Latin School was the first public school opened in the United States, in 1635. To this day, it remains the nation’s oldest public school. -
Harvard College
Harvard college, the first higher education in what is now the United States, that is in, what is now known as Cambridge Massachusetts. -
The laboring and the learned
Thomas Jefferson proposes a two-track educational system, with different tracks in his words for "the laboring and the learned." Scholarship would allow a very few of the laboring class to advance, Jefferson says, by "raking a few geniuses from the rubbish." -
Free schooling
Pennsylvania state constitution calls for free public education but only for poor children. It is expected that rich people will pay for their children's schooling. -
Free of Charge
Massachusetts passes a law making all grades of public school open to all pupils free of charge. -
Plessy vs Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the state of Louisiana has the right to require "separate but equal" railroad cars for Blacks and whites. This decision means that the federal government officially recognizes segregation as legal. One result is that southern states pass laws requiring racial segregation in public schools. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The Supreme Court unanimously agrees that segregated schools are "inherently unequal" and must be abolished. Almost 45 years later in 1998, schools, especially in the north, are as segregated as ever. -
Milliken vs Bradley
Milliken v. Bradley. A Supreme Court made up of Richard Nixon's appointees rules that schools may not be desegregated across school districts. This effectively legally segregates students of color in inner-city districts from white students in wealthier white suburban districts. -
Tribal Colleges Act
The federal Tribal Colleges Act establishes a community college on every Indian reservation, which allows young people to go to college without leaving their families. -
Ron Unz
multi-millionaire, Ron Unz manages to put a measure on the June 1998 ballot outlawing bilingual education in California