Progressive Era: 1890–1920s: Racial Dissonance in Education

The diversity that did exist in California schools was either hard-fought, or the result of communities of mixed heritage that did not have the resources to build separate schools for minorities. An amendment to the California State Political Code in 1921 established separate schools for Indian, Chinese, Japanese, or Mongolian children. By 1924, with the exception of Filipino "nationals", all Asian immigrants, including Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Indians were fully segregated by law, denied citizenship and naturalization, and prevented from marrying Caucasians or owning land. As the state's economy became connected to the nation's economy after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, the cultural biases also traveled throughout the nation. The doctrine of separate but equal was the first in a series of defeats that ethnic minorities would suffer across the nation, as people competed for jobs, resources, and opportunity in the developing nation.