University of Colorado Boulder: ED TALKS: Dr. Rubén Donato and Judge Martín Gonzalez with performance by Dr. Antonio Esquibel.
Certain movements have become iconic symbols of civil rights movements — Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and the fight to end segregated schooling evoke images of young people like Ruby Bridges and The Little Rock Nine tearing down racial barriers. Struggles against school segregation are memorialized in textbooks and curricula, but Mexican Americans have a long-standing but lesser-known history in the struggle against school segregation.

University of Colorado Boulder: Rubén Donato 
Donato will explain how there were no state statutes that sanctioned the school segregation of Mexican Americans in America. Yet, it became common practice. Mexican American communities have been challenging school segregation for more than 100 years. 

Texas State University: Gonzalo Guzmán

It took over a century for the case to be rediscovered. Which begs the question; what else don’t we know about the segregation...And what does this case mean for the larger American narrative about schools, race, racism, and justice?

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National Parks Magazine: Nicolas Brulliard

A major school desegregation victory in Colorado was all but forgotten.  A century later, it’s getting its due. The school board denied discrimination accusations because Hispano children were officially considered “white,” but testimony contradicted that assertion, according to a newspaper account.

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NBC News: Raul A Reyes

'Buried' Latino history: Colorado sculpture honors family's fight for school equity.

“This case lay dormant for a century, and it took some strong efforts by academics to bring it to light,” said Ron Maestas, a retired educator and descendant of the Maestas family. “To me, Francisco Maestas gives us a lesson in courage, a simple man standing up against inequity. He stood up for his kids, because he wanted safety and education for them.”

The Colorado Magazine: Katie Dokson

Fall 2022 Issue-An Almost-Forgotten Fight for School Desegregation 

"On November 9, 1866, shortly after the US Congress added the Valley to the recently created Colorado Territory, The Rocky Mountain News reflected many of the newcomers’ racist attitudes towards the Hispano settlements: “The counties of Conejos and Costilla are settled, principally, by New Mexicans, a mongrel race, half Spanish and half Indian.”

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The Journal of Latinos in Education:

Francisco Maestas et al. v. George H. Shone et al.: Mexican American Resistance to School Segregation in the Hispano Homeland, 1912–1914

CBS News: Michael Abeyta

Latinos in Colorado won the right to attend whatever school they wanted to decades before the rest of the country - CBS Colorado (cbsnews.com)

Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area: Katie Dokson

The nation’s earliest and longest-unheralded victory in the war against educational desegregation took place in the San Luis Valley between 1912 and 1914.

Rocky Mountain PBS: Kate Perdoni

Decades before 'Brown v. Board,' Hispanic Americans in Southern Colorado won a school des (rmpbs.org)

Rocky Mountain PBS: Katie Perdoni

Historic school desegregation decision honored at Colorado State Capitol (rmpbs.org)

Colorado Voices RMPBS: Kate Perdoni

Hispano mutual aid society receives $1.4 million to restore historic building. 

"In its early days, La Sociedad rallied and mobilized in the rail yards, mines, fields and schools. The group is listed in a local paper as showing financial support for the Maestas v. Shone, the region’s first successful school desegregation case taking place in Alamosa from 1912 to 1914. "

Colorado Public Radio:

How the first Mexican-American school desegregation case was won, lost, and found anew (cpr.org)

Colorado Academic Standards:
The new Social Studies standards that the Colorado State Board of Education passed in 2022 include the Maestas Case.
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RE:WIRE: The Landmark Civil Rights Case None of Us Were Taught

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Alamosa Citizen: A song and a video to commemorate the Maestas Case - Alamosa Citizen

Alamosa Courier: The Maestas Case: ¿Y qué? So what?

Adams State University: Judge Martín Gonzales & Atty. Ronnie Mondragon Jr.

Historic Maestas Case Presentation - YouTube

Video, minute marker 25:00

Discovery Road: James Nelson

Learn about the inspiring story of the La Sociedad Protecccion Mutua de Trabajadores Unidos (SPMDTU). It’s the oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States and was started to help struggling families, protect workers and offer a sense of belonging.

The Colorado State Senate: Maestas Case Resolution

Colorado Senate 2020 Legislative Day 048 - YouTube Minute Marker 30:39

Colorado Senate Joint Resolution 20-016

Concerning the Maestas Desegregation Case

Colorado House Joint Resolution 20-016

Concerning the Maestas Desegregation Case

Colorado Senate Joint Resolution 20-016

Concerning the Maestas Desegregation Case

Rocky Mountain PBS: Kate Perdoni

Southern Colorado community works to preserve the memory of historic school desegregation case.

Rocky Mountain PBS: Kate Perdoni

San Luis Valley community commemorates a monumental win in school desegregation

Colorado Voices RMPBS: Kate Perdoni

A corrido is a traditional way of popularizing a person or event through song. Here, historian and educator Antonio Esquibel of S.P.M.D.T.U. Concilio #7 in Denver sings the corrido he penned for the occasion of the statue commemoration at the Colorado State Capitol, “Corrido de Francisco Maestas.” 

Chalkbeat: Erica Meltzer

Mexican Americans in Colorado fought an early school desegregation case - Chalkbeat Colorado