Becoming Minority: Mexican Americans, Race, and the Legal Struggle for Educational Equity in Denver, Colorado

Abstract

Although historians and legal scholars have long recognized the significance of Keyes v. School District No. One (Denver, CO), the racial negotiations that grounded the litigation have not been fully explored. By focusing on the early stages of the case, I show how and why the “minority” construction was developed and contested. While Mexican Americans were critical to the efforts to desegregate Denver schools, their participation in the case was more symbolic than real. It would take intervention by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which did not occur until January 1974, to ensure that the courts consider the educational needs and demands of Mexican Americans. By that time an Anglo/minority binary was firmly entrenched in the debates over school desegregation in the city, limiting MALDEF’s ability to secure equal education for Mexican American students.