A free exhibit that opens this weekend in San Antonio will highlight the importance of protecting children’s education and the struggle against public-school segregation in the late 1960s.
The Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) is unveiling “Cisneros V. Corpus Christi ISD: The Long Fight to End School Segregation” at an opening reception 1-4 p.m. Sept. 27 at the institute’s visitor center, 2123 Buena Vista St.
All guests attending the reception are welcome to enjoy the exhibit free of charge.
The exhibit will come to an end Nov. 26.
Sarah Zenaida Gould, MACRI’s executive director, said it is important for college students to attend the exhibit because they are part of the history, and they could learn from the students who came before them to make modern public education possible.
“It’s so important for students to know that you’re in this classroom because of people before you, like you would not have always had access to a university like this,” Gould said in an interview Sept. 15. “And so it’s understandable that you may not know all the details of what processes had to happen in order to make it possible for us to have places like Texas A&M-San Antonio, but just know, a lot of people put a lot of effort into getting you here.”
Jose Cisneros was one of 24 Mexican American and African American parents who sued the Corpus Christi Independent School District in 1968 for segregation of their children in public schools with “overcrowded classrooms, outdated textbooks and supplies, poorly maintained facilities, and limited access to extracurricular programs,” Gould wrote in an email to The Mesquite. Cisneros was the father of two daughters who were enrolled in Prescott Elementary School within the district.
What made the makeup of these plaintiffs groundbreaking was their combination of African American and Mexican American families. Of the 24 plaintiffs, 25% were African American.
That collaboration helped win the case. In 1970, the court prohibited the intentional segregation occurring in the district and other public schools. To assist in their argument, lawyer James DeAnda used Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 case that declared racial segregation of children in public schools as unconstitutional. DeAnda also used the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the country.
Gould said the exhibit is composed of eight retractable banners that include newspaper clippings, historical photographs and excerpts from the court case, such as quotes from the judge.
Steph MacDougal, an architectural historian in Houston, and Isabel Araiza, a professor at Del Mar College, collaborated with Gould in the creation of this exhibit. They were already working to apply for a National Register of Historic Places nomination involving a house in Corpus Christi associated with the Cisneros family. Gould agreed to contribute but requested the creation of an exhibit about the court case.
During the opening reception, refreshments will be provided including lemonade, tea and water as well as fruit, cheese and crackers.
The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Friday.
For more information, email Info@somos.macri.org or visit www.somosmacri.org
