Ruben Donato (1997). The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era. Reviewed by Michael Fultz

Ruben Donato (1997). The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. x + 210 pp. ISBN 0-7914-3520-2 $19.95 (paper) ISBN 0-7914-3519-9 $59.50 (cloth) Reviewed by Michael Fultz University of Wisconsin-Madison August 12, 1998             The literature on the educational experiences of Mexican Americans, like that of other racial and ethnic minorities, is quite meager. Unfortunately, this is as true for historical studies as it is for much-needed contemporary analyses. With The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era, Ruben Donato merits mention along with such noteworthy historians as Gilbert Gonzalez (1990) and Guadalupe San Miguel (1987) for enriching our understanding of Mexican Americans' longstanding and determined efforts to achieve equitable schooling.             Indeed, one of Donato's consistent arguments is that contrary to persisting stereotypes of docility and passivity, "Mexican Americans have been actively protesting discriminatory educational practices throughout the Southwest since the early twentieth century" (p. 2). Donato's substantiation of this assertion, and the primary contribution of his book, lies in his thoughtful investigation of the Mexican American fight for equal educational opportunities in Brownfield, California, a pseudonym for "a medium-sized town with an unusual blend of rural and small-city conditions," as he describes it. Donato's overall intent is "to examine how a predominantly White educational system and its surrounding community responded to the growing number of Mexican Americans in school during that era [1960s and 1970s], how Mexican American parents challenged the relative tranquility of school governance, and the mix of federal, state, and local politics that produced educational reform" (p. 2). Targeted, in-depth case studies such as this are badly needed in educational historiography, particularly, again, those which focus on Black, Latino, and Asian communities. But one of the additional values of Donato's work is his ongoing attempt to contextualize the events, issues, and thematic concerns shaping experiences in Brownfield, with national and regional trends, both historical and, then, contemporary, thus enhancing readers' ability to understand the complexity of the relationship of social movements and educational change. A broad, interesting introductory chapter on "Schooling in the Pre-Brown Era" is a more than serviceable overview of how Mexican American education in the first half of the twentieth century was affected by such issues as school segregation, Americanization, migrant education, intelligence testing, and vocational education, though not all of these concerns are specifically addressed in Brownfield in the civil rights period.             Donato's depiction of the emergence of Mexican American grassroots activism in Brownfield in the mid-1960s, and of that community's struggles with such issues as a proposal for year-round schooling (which might have adversely affected schooling for migrant children), bilingual education, and segregation--with an engaging, secondary discussion of the practical and ideological tension between centrifugal forces of desegregation and the centripetal forces of bilingual education--form the heart of the book. In each case, Donato does an admirable job in both contextualizing the issues and explaining Mexican American initiatives and responses. Both individually and in combination, these chapters illuminate unexplored aspects of American educational history from a Mexican American point of view. This itself is a considerable achievement. Although the community was able to achieve some victories, and to establish, with growing sophistication, an political presence of sorts (mostly engaging in protest politics though sometimes allowing state mandates to run their course), ultimately, Donato concludes that "Mexican Americans were unable to make significant changes in the Brownfield schools during the 1960s and 1970s because they lacked political power. They were marginalized from the political infrastructure of the community.... In most cases they were unable to influence educational policy decisions that were certain to have an effect on their children" (p. 152).             While, again, The Other Struggle for Equal Schools makes an important contribution to the literature, one problem with the book's treatment is that there are several aspects of the narrative which are not resolved. They range from small particulars to larger conceptual issues. As an example of one of the smaller concerns, it is never quite clear what happens with regard to the Brownfield School Board's attempt to fire an influential community advocate/liaison in the late 1960s. This individual had been an important figure in organizing grassroots community support for a bilingual-bicultural elementary schooling in the district, and in doing so had angered members of the board, who used as a transparent excuse the claim that they wanted to make better use of the Title I funds which had been used to pay her salary. But the outcome of this dispute is not clear; nor is it explained how this position was utilized in subsequent years. Also, the book might have discussed local politics in more depth, particularly in order to explain in greater detail why, as Donato argues, Mexican Americans were unable to make more prominent and permanent inroads into either municipal or school board infrastructures. A Mexican American is mentioned as being on the school board during the period under review, but his/her election is not discussed.             But these qualms should not detract from the many positive aspects of Donato's work. Overall, this is a thoughtful treatment of a complex, understudied topic. Overall, the history of Mexican American education has been enriched. References Gonzalez, G. G. (1990). Chicago education in the era of segregation. Philadelphia: Balch Institute Press. San Miguel, G. (1987). Let all of them take heed: Mexican Americans and the campaign for educational equality in Texas, 1910-1981. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. About the reviewer Michael Fultz is Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Recent publications include "African-American Teachers in the South, 1890-1940: Powerlessness and the Ironies of Expectations and Protest," History of Education Quarterly 35 (Winter 1995), "African-American Teachers in the South, 1890-1940: Growth, Feminization, and Salary Discrimination," Teachers College Record 96 (Spring 1995), and "Teacher Training and African American Education in the South, 1900-1940," Journal of Negro Education 64 (Spring 1995).