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Written by Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence is signed and ratified by the founding fathers, offering liberties and rights to American citizens, (which consequently didn't include minorities, women, and non-land owners).
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Thomas Jefferson introduces a Bill that would allow for public education. The bill was voted down, but it brought attention to the concept that an educated society is a better functioning society.
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This specified that western territories were to be divided into townships that were made up of 640-acre sections, one of which needed to be designated for the maintenance of public schools.
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The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opens. This marks the first school to recognize students with disabilities are capable and worthy of education.
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Massachusetts passes a law that makes public education free to all grades.
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Horace Mann heads the first Board of Education.
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Richard Humphreys established the nation's first Historically Black University and designed to prepare African Americans to become teachers.
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First superintendent, Hervey B. Wilbur M. D. pioneered the first institution regarding the care and training of students with disabilities. He worked with Edward Seguin, M.D. who would influence Maria Montessori and her practices.
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Massachusetts becomes the first state to make education compulsory. Other states follow eventually follow suit.
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Pennsylvania starts funding a private school for children with intellectual disabilities.
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Boston Public Library opens and is the first free municipal library in the U.S. This helped set precedence for access to free education/knowledge.
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The University of Iowa was the first state university to admit men and women allowing for equal access to education.
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The first kindergarten was started in Watertown, Wisconsin, by Margarethe Schurz.
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody would open the first "formal" kindergarten in Boston, MA. four years later. -
the 13th Amendment is passed, abolishing slavery.
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14th Amendment is passed by Congress and says it would give all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizenship and equal protection under the law.
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The Department of Education is created in order to help states establish effective school systems.
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Created in the reconstruction era, Howard U. provided education for African American youth in the liberal arts and sciences. Though privately run, the US government helped fund the college.
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The law banned segregation in all public accommodations. The Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional in 1883.
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The university was founded in Nashville, Tennessee, and was the first medical school in the south for African Americans.
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President Rutherford B. Hayes removes the last federal troops from the south. This set the for Jim Crow, a system of legal segregation and discrimination that was quickly established. Many African Americans fled the south.
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Opened in Carlisle, Penn. This school would serve as the model for 26 other schools, with the nefarious goal of assimilating native children and obliterating their culture and heritage.
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This provided a larger endowment and support of colleges through the sale of public lands. Part of these funds led to the creation of 16 historically black land-grant colleges.
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A legal case where the US Supreme court ruled 7 to 1 in favor of "separate but equal" practices that allowed for racial segregation.
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The National Vocational Education Act adopted by congress provided federal money to states for the purpose of training students in agriculture and trades work based on IQ tests.
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Congress passes a law granting (in theory) all women equal right to voting. Black and Native women would wait several more decades.
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FDR signs a bill that allows 7.8 million WWII vets benefits. More than 2 million attend college, breaking the "idea" that college is only for the wealthy.
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Landmark court case: US Distric Court in LA rules that it is unconstitutional to educate children of Mexican descent in separate facilities. This prohibited segregation in California schools.
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The US Supreme court unanimously rules that "separate but equal" is inherently unequal which overturned Plessy vs Ferguson of 1896, which led to the abolishment of segregation in America.
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In Jan of 1956, the courts ruled that Clinton High in Tenn. had to admit black students. 12 African American students enrolled, only 6 stayed the year due to threats and harassment.
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9 students were enrolled at Little Rock Central High in Arkansas. There was so much push-back from the white community that President Eisenhower ordered the Arkansas National Guard to support the integration.
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Signed by President Eisenhower, this law kickstarted the civil rights movement.
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Samuel A. Kirt uses the term at the Chicago conference on children with perceptual disorders and it becomes a common term.
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President Kennedy signs into law the first major legislation to combat mental illness and intellectual disabilities. (Maternal and Child Health and Mental Retardation Planning Amendment to the Social Security Act)
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Signed by President Johnson, The Civil Rights Act made illegal segregation and discrimination.
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Congress enacts (ESEA) to deal with the inequality of educational opportunity for impoverished children.
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Congress amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that allowed states to receive grants that would allow for the education of children with handicaps.
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This court case resulted in new laws required that children being tested for special education be tested in their primary language.
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This federal court ruling stated that students with mental retardation are entitled to a free public education.
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This case extended the "PARC v. Pennsylvania" ruling to other students with disabilities.
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Title IX prohibited discrimination based on sex in all aspects of education.
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This law and established a comprehensive approach for the unique needs of Native Americans and Native Alaskan students.
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Geraldo Rivera debuts his documentary on the horrific practices of Willowbrook, This documentary is said to be the catalyst for the Handicapped Children Act of 1975.
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Section 504 of this act guarantees civil rights for people with disabilities.
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U.S. Supreme Court rules that the San Francisco School District failed to provide English language instruction to Chinese-American students with limited English proficiency and it was a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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This law prohibited discrimination and requires schools to actively overcome barriers that prevent equal protection.
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Federal Judge Arthur Garrity ordered the busing of African American students to predominantly white schools to achieve racial integration.
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This law required schools to offer free and appropriate education to all students with disabilities, in the least restrictive setting.