This much-needed volume is an edited collection of primary sources that document the history of bilingual education in U.S. public schools during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Part I of the volume examines the development of dual-language programs for immigrants, colonized Mexicans, and Native Americans during the nineteenth century. Part II considers the attacks on bilingual education during the Progressive-era drive for an English-only curriculum and during the First World War. Part III explores the resurgence of bilingual activities, particularly among Spanish speakers and Native Americans, during the interwar period and details the rise of the federal government’s involvement in bilingual instruction during the post-WWII decades. Part IV of the volume examines the recent campaigns against bilingual education and explores dual-language practices in today’s classrooms. A compilation of school reports, letters, government documents, and other primary sources, this volume provides rich insights into the history of this very contentious educational policy and practice and will be of great interest to historians and language scholars, as well as to educational practitioners and policymakers.

This history of one of the most contentious educational issues in America examines bilingual instruction in the United States from the common school era to the recent federal involvement in the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing from school reports, student narratives, legal resources, policy documents, and other primary sources, the work teases out the underlying agendas and patterns in bilingual schooling during much of America s history. The study demonstrates clearly how the broader context - the cultural, intellectual, religious, demographic, economic, and political forces - shaped the contours of dual-language instruction in America between the 1840s and 1960s. Ramsey s work fills a crucial void in the educational literature and addresses not only historians, linguists, and bilingual scholars, but also policymakers and practitioners in the field.

This book fills a gap in the literature of the politics of bilingual education in the United States: the role of the legislative branch of the national government in the passage of the 1968 Bilingual Education Act and its aftermath. The issues examined in this book include the type of environment in which the bilingual education debate emerged, the positions of the competing factions that lobbied Congress, the roles played by the legislative branch, and the end result.