Mexicans and Hispanos in Colorado Schools and Communities, 1920-1960

Winner of the 2007 Critics' Choice Award presented by the American Educational Studies Association

Until now, much of what has been written about Mexican American educational history has focused on California and Texas, while Colorado's story has remained largely untold. Rubén Donato recounts the social and educational history of Mexicans and Hispanos (descendents of Spanish troops who came to the region in the late 1500s) in Colorado from 1920 to 1960. He examines both groups' experiences in sugar beet towns, the experiences of Hispanos in Anglo American–controlled towns, and the Hispano experience in a historically Hispano-controlled town. Donato argues that whoever possessed power at the local level determined who ran the schools, who administered them, who taught in them, who succeeded in them, and what sorts of social and academic environments were created.