Standing Up to Sugar Cubes: The Contest over Ethnic Identity in California's Fourth-Grade Mission Curriculum

In the 1960s and 1970s, Native American and Chicano activists launched attacks against the romanticized depiction of the Spanish Past that was taught in California schools. Contests within and among the reform groups (and the eventual resolution found in today's educational standards) reveal a complex effort to shape children's perceptions of race and identity. By tracing the evolution of Native American and Latino activism on this subject and the responses of the state Board of Education, this article shows the symbolic significance of education debates in state politics.