Description
Book SynopsisExplores how language instruction informed the social construction of American citizenship. Combining the history of language instruction, school desegregation, and civil rights activism as it unfolded in LA, this timely book clarifies the critical and evolving role of language instruction in twentieth-century American politics.
Trade ReviewIn this illuminating historical account, Zevi Gutfreund posits that formal language education served as a vector through which Angelinos—those who possessed social capital and those who aspired to it—sought to articulate and shape notions of US citizenship in the twentieth century. Gutfreund uncovers the ways teachers, parents, and students challenged Americanization and English-only campaigns and brought to bear their own aspirations for national belonging.
Speaking American proves quite salient and timely as California continues to both reify and undermine national xenophobic currents in American immigration politics." —Clif Stratton, author of
Education for Empire: American Schools, Race, and the Paths of Good Citizenship"
Speaking American asks critical questions about identity, Americanization, education, and young people. In telling this complex and important story—difficult, disappointing, and uplifting at the various twists and turns of Los Angeles history—Zevi Gutfreund explores how and why L.A. was at the epicenter of twentieth-century Americanization debates and struggles. He renders the always-complex social and racial arenas of metropolitan L.A. with clarity and scholarly acuity." —William Deverell, author of
Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise of Los Angeles and the Remaking of Its Mexican Past"Our understanding of American identities and educational reform has broadened significantly in recent years, as scholars have increasingly identified schools as sites of ongoing negotiation between students, teachers, diverse communities, and reformers. In telling the multiple ways in which Angelenos understood what it meant to “speak American,” Gutfreund’s book adds important insight regarding how language remained—and remains—a critical part of this negotiation." —
Western Historical Quarterly
