ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the history of racially explicit government policies that have segregated metropolitan areas and public schools. Zoning was used to place toxic and industrial areas in or nearby Black and Latina/o neighborhoods. The Great Depression created an opportunity for federal government involvement in housing policy. Unfortunately, federal policies sponsored segregation and exacerbated racial inequalities with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. After World War II, the Veterans Administration (VA) and the G. I. Bill's mortgage program continued to sponsor racial segregation. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order prohibiting federal funds to support racial housing discrimination. Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) reflects the city's ugly history with racial segregation and inequality. The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) maintained ineffective, segregated transitional bilingual programs for English language learners (ELLs) that failed to prepare students to be successful in general classrooms or support the development of their family's language.
