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Educational historian helps unearth Colorado case as one of the earliest Mexican-American challenges to U.S. school segregation

Judge Mart铆n Gonzales remembers when 鈥渢he academics,鈥� as he calls them, came poking around the Alamosa County Courthouse seeking records of a 1914 case challenging school segregation for Mexican-American children.听

Gonzales and other locals from the south-central Colorado county had never heard of the case. However, Professor Gonzalo Guzm谩n, from Macalester College, had stumbled upon a short article from a 1914 Wyoming newspaper indicating important history had taken place in the San Luis Valley, where Mexican Americans have deep roots, and he partnered with CU Boulder Professor Rub茅n Donato to help unearth the case.听

鈥淔rankly, given how old it was, I was surprised we found the file,鈥� said Gonzales, the retired district judge of Colorado鈥檚 12th Judicial District. 鈥淭he case appears to be one of the earliest Mexican American challenges to school segregation in the United States鈥攊f not the earliest.鈥澨�

As a seasoned educational historian who has studied Mexican Americans鈥� struggle for justice in education, Donato was surprised to discover that the Francisco Maestas et al v. George Shone et al case was litigated decades before other influential cases documenting Mexican Americans鈥� fight against segregation in the 1930s and 鈥�40s.听

鈥淚n contrast to the longstanding idea that education in America was the great equalizer, schools functioned differently for Mexican Americans,鈥� Donato said. 鈥淗owever, Mexican immigrants, Mexican Americans, and Hispanos/as鈥攖hose with deep roots to southern Colorado and northern New Mexico鈥攔esisted school segregation and were not passive victims who accepted their educational fates.鈥澨�

Donato, Guzm谩n and CU Denver鈥檚 Jarrod Hanson studied court records and newspaper accounts to document how Mexican-American children鈥檚 racial background and linguistic needs were contested in the Maestas case and how it was received.听

In the case, Francisco Maestas鈥� son, Miguel, was denied admission to the white school that was closest to their home and ordered to attend the district鈥檚 鈥淢exican school鈥� across the railroad tracks. The Hispano/a community organized, boycotted and hired a Denver attorney. They maintained their children were denied admission because they were racially distinct as Mexicans, and the Colorado constitution prohibited classifying public-school children based on color and race.听

The defendants鈥攕chool board members and the superintendent鈥� argued Mexican-American children were Caucasians, therefore not segregated by race, but it was appropriate to segregate non-English-speaking students in a separate school. However, officials were sending all Mexican-American children to the separate school, regardless of their English-language abilities.听

Judge Charles Holbrook ruled in favor of Maestas, finding officials could not prevent English-speaking Mexican- American children from attending schools of their choice.听

鈥淢exican Americans knew school segregation was wrong, they resisted and they contested the practice in the court,鈥� Donato said. The case 鈥渁ffirms that Mexican Americans have been challenging school segregation for over a century. It was unique, complex and hotly contested at the time.鈥澨�

Donato and co-authors have published journal articles and a book, The Other American Dilemma: Schools, Mexicans, and the Nature of Jim Crow (2021), about the case. Donato, Judge Gonzales, who鈥檚 now a friend, and other community leaders successfully lobbied the Colorado state legislature to formally recognize the case and the project he considers 鈥渙ne of the proudest moments鈥� of his professional career.听

Gonzales is a 5th generation Hispano to the San Luis Valley and successor to Judge Holbrook, and he believes this unearthed case remains important today. 鈥淪adly, most people of the United States learn a history that does not mention or understand our Hispano heritage in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado,鈥� he said.听

鈥淭he Maestas case underscores how important education is to us, and the willingness of my gente (my people) to organize against great adversity to achieve equal education. It shows our hope, inspiration and certainty that we Hispanos are meaningful to this ever more complex society.鈥�

Photos:听Rub茅n Donato (top left) and colleagues reexamined the 1914 case of Miguel Maestas (bottom left). Scenes from the work include railroad tracks bifurcating Alamosa (top), the 鈥淢exican School鈥� where Mexican-American children were routinely sent (top right), and a sculpture to memorialize the case at the Alamosa County Courthouse, shown here with artist Reynaldo Rivera (bottom right). Photos courtesy of: Rub茅n Donato;听Ronald W. Maestas; History Colorado; Gonzalo Guzm谩n and Jarrod Hanson; Reynaldo Rivera and Hope Rivera.