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The Mayflower arrives at Cape Cod, bringing the "Pilgrims" who establish the Plymouth Colony. Many of the Pilgrims are Puritans who had fled religious persecution in England. Their religious views come to dominate education in the New England colonies.
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The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decrees that every town of fifty families should have an elementary school and that every town of 100 families should have a Latin school. The goal is to ensure that Puritan children learn to read the Bible and receive basic information about their Calvinist religion.
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John Locke publishes his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which conveys his belief that the human mind is a tabula rasa, or blank slate, at birth and knowledge is derived through experience, rather than innate ideas as was believed by many at that time. Locke's views concerning the mind and learning greatly influence American education.
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The Bill of rights is passed by the first Congress of the new United States. No mention is made of education in any of the amendments. However, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution states that powers not delegated to the federal government "are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people." Thus, education becomes a function of the state rather than the federal government.
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The percentage of people working in agriculture plummets as family farms are gobbled up by larger agricultural businesses and people are forced to look for work in towns and cities. many immigrants from Europe During the 10 years from 1846 to 1856, 3.1 million immigrants arrive a number equal to one eighth of the entire U.S. population. Owners of industry needed a docile, obedient workforce and look to public schools to provide it.
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State of Massachusetts passes first its compulsory education law. The goal is to make sure that the children of poor immigrants get "civilized" and learn obedience and restraint, so they make good workers and don't contribute to social upheaval.
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The U.S supreme rules that the state has the right to require separate but equal this means that the federal government recognize segregation as legal. Which the southern states pass laws requiring racial segregation in public schools.
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The 19th Amendment is ratified, giving women the right to vote.
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The Great Depression begins with the stock market crash in October. The U.S. economy is devastated.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president and begins bold efforts to initiate his New Deal and spur economic recovery
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The U.S. enters World War II after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on December 7.
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World War II ends on August 15 (VJ Day) with victory over Japan
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The Supreme Court unanimously agrees that segregated schools are "inherently unequal" and must be abolished. Almost 45 years later in 1998, schools, especially in the north, are as segregated as ever.
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Rosa Parks, a Montgomery, Alabama seamstress, refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a Caucasian passenger and is subsequently arrested and fined.
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President Johnson signs the Manpower Training Act into law on April 16
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Nobel Prize winner and leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th.
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President Jimmy Carter signs the Refugee Education Assistance Act into law as the "Mariel Boatlift" brings thousands of Cuban and a small number of Haitian refugees to Florida.
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The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990, the first comprehensive reform since 1965, is enacted on 29 November and increases annual immigration to 700,000 adding to the diversity of our nation and its schools.
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President Barack Obama announces on February 9 that the applications of ten states seeking waivers from some of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law were approved.
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Hundreds of educators and former educators run for office in the mid-term elections.
