The Ethnic Heritage Studies Program Act of 1972

The EHSPA mandated education to recognize America's cultural diversity.

The Ethnic Heritage Studies Act (EHSA) of 1972 was Title IX of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. It provided support for educational resources to help students to discover their ethnic heritages and learn about others.

Identification

The 1972 EHSA proposed multiethnic educational opportunities for American students, particularly for those from non-English-speaking groups that predated English settlement or that had arrived as immigrants in the centuries since settlement.

Time Frame

Title IX was added to the 1965 ESEA in 1972. The act was updated as "Title IX--Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native Education" in the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994.

Purpose

The EHSA of 1972 provided funds to "assist schools and school systems" in developing ways that students could learn about their own cultural heritages and to appreciate the "contributions of these forebears to the nation."

Benefits

The act authorized the establishment of Ethnic Heritage Study Centers, many of which still function in universities. They serve as historical research facilities and museums.

Considerations

The law was reinterpreted to apply exclusively to native peoples in the ESEA of 1994, providing direct grants to native peoples' tribes and institutions.

References

• Government Accountability Office: The Ethnic Heritage Studies Centers Act of 1972
• U.S. Dept. of Education: Improving America's Schools Act of 1994: Grants to Tribes for Education Administrative Planning and Development

Resources

• Pennsylvania Ethnic Heritage Studies Center
• Fort Hays State University: Center for Ethnic Studies: A Guide to the Collections
• Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium: Preparing Teachers for the New Mainstream