Content area
Full Text
A Brief and Personal History
I am grateful to the faculty of California State University, Long Beach for celebrating the anniversary of PL 94-142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. I also thank them for inviting me to be part of that occasion and this publication. The changes leading to 94-142 came as I was beginning my own professional career at the University of California, Los Angeles, so in a sense my development as a special educator was related to this legislation. I was a member of the National Advisory Committee on the Handicapped during the time 94-142 was passed by the Congress, and was fortunate to work with Edwin Martin, the Head of the then Bureau of Education for the Handicapped. We all owe real thanks to Dr. Martin for his many contributions in making 94-142 a reality.
Education and the Civil Rights Movement
PL 94-142 and subsequent legislation are best understood against the backdrop of political unrest and the civil rights movement. The United States Supreme Court had ruled earlier that "separate but equal" education for different racial groups was not constitutional, and in the 1960s and 1970s education became part of the controversy over civil rights. These were turbulent times. A President was assassinated, we were in a war in Viet Nam, thousands of citizens marched in the streets in protest. Some marchers for civil rights were met with attack dogs and fire hoses, and the first African American students entered newly integrated schools under the protection of armed soldiers. Rosa Parks made her quiet but powerful statement on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and Martin Luther King Junior became the spokesman for equality for all.
It should be noted that despite the turmoil of those years, the 1960s and 1970s were optimistic times for special educators. The interest in mental retardation by President Kennedy and the "War on Poverty" under President Johnson led to Federal funding for research focused on young "at-risk" children, particularly children in poverty. There was also increased awareness of the importance of early experiences for children's development. Research on early interventions had a major effect on national and local efforts to provide quality programs such as Head Start for young children living in...