Finding Historical Threads: Yearbooks, Census Population Schedules, and Historical Maps to Mine Local Community Histories

• In Event: Critical Race Educational History: Methodological Commitments and Praxis With and for Chicana/o Students and Communities

Abstract

This paper explores an innovative methodological approach to recover the histories of education of communities of Color. Specifically, this paper uniquely situates the educational trajectories of Mexican descent students within the historical racial, social and economic realities of this community of South Central Los Angeles in the first half of the twentieth century. Of primary importance of this paper is illustrating the methodological interventions and possibilities by taking a Critical Race Educational History (Santos et al. 2017) approach that engages with school yearbooks, Census Population Schedules, and historical maps in new and innovative ways to recover Chicana/o-Latina/o histories of education. I highlight the utility of this methodological approach that can be applied to recover localized histories of education across time and place.

Given that Chicana/o students have been racialized from the moment they began to attend schools in the United States (Menchaca, 1999), any attempt to research and write
Chicana/o educational history must therefore include a central understanding of the way that students’ race has impacted their educational experiences throughout time. For this reason, the tenets of Critical Race Theory in education (Solórzano, 1998) explicitly guide the researching, learning, and writing of Chicana/o educational history in this paper.

Grounded in archival research methods, and utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) in education, the author hones in on quantitative sources, such as U.S. Census Population Schedules from 1920, 1930 & 1940, to illuminate on the qualitative experiences of Mexican students and their families in the urban neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles. Pairing U.S. Census data with archival sources such as historical maps from the Urban League papers and school yearbooks, add depth in understanding how the education of Chicana/o students was rationalized and designed. Utilizing these sources and pairing these with one another have allowed me to recover block-level data of the neighborhood and recapture the vibrancy and spirit of the families who lived and worked alongside each other. Of particular importance are school yearbooks that when paired with U.S. Census Population schedules yield actual students’ educational and life trajectories.

This paper is an attempt to develop and utilize a new methodological approach that creates rich historical snapshots of marginalized communities. In particular, the block-level data obtained by this approach with the use of the U.S. Census Population Schedules are able to capture the local social conditions for the Mexican community living in South Central Los Angeles, and the subsequent schooling trajectories of Mexican students. Specific findings of this study suggest Mexican families in the neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles were seven times less likely to own their home compared to their Euro-American neighbors. Educational attainment levels among Mexican families were low, in particular among the women. This manuscript contributes to the field of education by exploring innovative methodological approaches to advance our engagement with historical questions of educational inequality and opportunity for marginalized students from across any neighborhood in the U.S.

Author

• Lluliana Alonso, San Diego State University