Stolen Education

In the aftermath of the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, some Texas schools tried circumventing the order to desegregate by isolating Mexican-American children from their peers through a policy that kept them in first grade for three years. The 1956 case Hernandez et al v. Driscoll Consolidated Independent School District put an end to that particular practice, but its impact on the Civil Rights movement has been long forgotten. Dr. Enrique Alemán Jr., the son of one of the students involved in the Hernandez case, co-directed this documentary examining the circumstances surrounding this sad chapter in Lone Star state history, detailing how the Texas schools used racism and fear to wreck the lives of a number of intelligent Mexican-American children, and how the stigma of this policy continues to haunt many today in Texan communities (including Alemán's family). Also noted here is the work of American G.I. Forum, the organization of Mexican-American veterans that coordinated the Hernandez litigation. Since few photographs of the individuals involved in the Hernandez case exist, Stolen Education is forced to rely heavily on oral records—which occasionally makes for a rather talky production—but this is otherwise a solid remembrance of a significant chapter in Hispanic history that deserves attention. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)