California’s AB 101

Abstract

In 2021, California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 101, which requires that all students graduating high school by 2029–2030 must take an ethnic studies course. California is the only state in the nation with this graduation requirement. This article explores the historical and contemporary factors that pushed California to legislate and implement AB 101. We utilize a historical case study approach focusing on different student-led movements that embraced ethnic studies to combat educational inequalities. To do so, we pinpoint three historical phases in which ethnic studies became implemented throughout the state. In the first phase, influential scholars in the early and mid-twentieth century produced scholarship about historically marginalized people of color, which became foundational for the study of Black, Chicana/o, Asian American, and Indigenous people. The second phase involved students of color fighting for a culturally relevant curriculum, as demonstrated by the 1968 Third World Liberation Front, the 1968 East Los Angeles Chicano walkouts, El Plan de Santa Bárbara, and Chicanx/Latinx student hunger strikes in the 1990s. Lastly, the third phase consists of contemporary students, parents, educators, and activists successfully petitioning their local school districts to mandate ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement. Despite these gains, far-right organizations in cities like Santa Barbara have mobilized to push back against both the ethnic studies requirement and progressive social justice groups like Just Communities Central Coast. This resistance initially derailed AB 331, an earlier ethnic studies bill that Governor Newsom vetoed based on accusations that it was “anti-Semitic.” A revised version, AB 101, was then introduced and passed. While momentous, we contend, AB 101 is still limited; reaching its full potential would require greater teacher credentialing and the expansion of ethnic studies to K–8 students.