Erasing Differences for the Sake of Inclusion: How Mexican/Mexican American Students Construct Historical Narratives.

Mendez v. Westminster, a case about 1940s Mexican American school segregation, is a new vehicle for including Mexican Americans into U.S. history classrooms. This study explores how a class of primarily Mexican American students, who because of their heritage might develop a personal connection to the case, made sense ofMendez. The findings suggest thatMendezis subsumed under the larger Black Civil Rights narrative and stripped of its unique aspects. The inclusion of Mexican Americans into the history narrative is contingent on their story being analogous to the Black experience. Consequently, students learn an oversimplified understanding of Mexican American discrimination and race/ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]