Date: : 05/21/2004

Earlier this week, the nation celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, which sparked the end of racial segregation in the United States by proclaiming "separate but equal" public schools actually deprived students of equal educational opportunities. While this case touches upon Americans of all color and race, let us not forget how the Asian Pacific American (APA) struggle for equality in education even predated one of the most influential Supreme Court cases in American history.

Chinese Americans Struggle for Access to Public Education

Chinese parents have long fought for the right to enroll their children in public schools. Soon after the first, exclusive public school for Chinese children in San Francisco was opened in 1859, the local superintendent shut down the school because the City took the position that no public school should be available for Chinese children. By 1878, over 1300 merchants in San Francisco, Sacramento, and other California Chinatowns successfully petitioned the State to provide a school, albeit a segregated one, for Chinese children in the state, arguing their children deserved access to the very public education system that their taxes subsidized. Although California law changed in 1880 to offer all children the right to attend a public school, San Francisco continued to intentionally prevent Chinese children access to public education.

Tape v. Hurley Declares All US-born Children Have the Right to Attend Public School

In 1884, the Chinese community emphasized citizenship as a basis to challenge the segregationist school boards when the Tape family decided to send their daughter to the nearest public school, but the principal refused her enrollment. The California Supreme Court upheld the Tape family's petition in 1885 and declared that all children born in the United States had the right to attend public school. Yet, when the Tapes marched to the local public school to register their daughter, the San Francisco Superintendent intervened and forced the city establish a separate school for Chinese children. During this first year of operation, the Chinese Primary School only had an enrollment of nine Chinese students. Therefore, the Tapes might have won the legal battle, but they lost the war.
 

Gong Lum v. Rice Decision Overturned by Brown v. Board of Education

In Mississippi in the late 1920s, Martha Lum, a native-born APA, was denied admission to the local white school because of her Chinese ancestry. Not only did the court in Gong Lum v. Rice validate segregation in Mississippi, nearly a dozen states relied on the Supreme Court's decision to maintain segregation in their states. These decisions reflected the court's unwillingness to interfere with a state's right to regulate its school system, which resulted in poor, if any, accommodations for separate educational facilities for APAs.

Brown v. Board of Education is particularly important to APAs because it ended the ability of states and schools to legally segregate APA children in school districts. This case was a defining moment in the civil rights movement, as Brown overturned such deplorable cases as Gong Lum v. Rice and ignited the civil rights movement that helped lead to the passage of both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which have been instrumental in impacting current APA civil rights issues.
 

Lau v. Nichols Provides Equal Education to Limited English Proficient Students

The case of Lau v. Nichols, which is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year, illustrates the changing treatment of minorities and immigrants in California schools. In Lau v. Nichols, the Supreme Court required schools to provide equal education to limited English proficient (LEP) students, including LEP APA students, by ensuring that measures are taken to teach English to LWP students. Due to the Lau decision, bilingual education is now defined as a right.
 

The Ongoing Fight for Educational Equality

While legal cases have marked notable successes in our battle for equal education, a recent legislative measure has not proven to be equally promising. Unfortunately, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 continues to fall short of its goal to educate every child in America because states have not been provided with adequate funding to address the needs of "failing" schools. APA children are particularly affected by this trend, as APA students are still being segregated out of "white" schools and forced into schools that are predominantly composed of minorities.

Moreover, as segregated schools tend to be schools of concentrated poverty, APAs who attend these schools are likely to be less healthy, attend classes taught by less experienced or unqualified teachers, have friends and classmates with lower levels of achievement, and attend schools with fewer demanding pre-collegiate courses. Despite the positive gains in the APA community, 12.6% of Asians and 17.7% of Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians live below the poverty line. These segregated schools lack the resources necessary to provide our children with adequate and meaningful education.