The three major groups that were negatively impacted by White American policies were American Indians, African Americans and Latinos. For centuries, these groups were held back and suppressed educationally due by White Americans due to their laws and tactics. American Indians were essentially forced into abandoning their cultural practices and forced to adapt Anglo-American customs and languages. For over 250 years, they were not allowed to learn about their culture and teach the history of the American Indians until 1965 when the National Advisory Council on Indian Education was formed. This was a presidential appointed advisory council that help with funding and administration of programs.
The African American group was enslaved for centuries and denied the ability to learn for years, slaves were not allowed to formal education to ensure they couldn’t communicate or have the ability to break away from owners. After the abolishment of slavery, African Americans struggled with obtaining the same resources as white students and were not allowed to attend school with white students. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled the segregation of classroom were unconstitutional.
For many centuries, Anglo-Americans setup several road blocks for Mexican and Puerto Ricans to ensure they were not afforded an education within the US. Each era, there were laws in place that divided Mexicans as a group and denied them citizenship, the right to vote and the ability to learn. Laws were in place and a caste system was essentially set up to block Mexican Indians tremendously. Puerto Ricans have struggled for years, though Puerto Ricans were provided citizenship in 1940, they were shunned and not provided the proper education within classrooms. In addition, many Puerto Ricans were denied the ability to teach their students because of their accents even if they were English speakers. They were not allowed to become teachers and were forced into substitute roles.
