













































Ethnic Studies and the Enduring Legacy of Movements for Racial Justice in California


Volume 3, Issue 2 
2021 

Allies for Education 2021, 3, 2 
https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 

 
Ethnic Studies and the Enduring Legacy of 
Movements for Racial Justice in California 

 
Nicholas F. Centino 

An interdisciplinary field, ethnic studies examines race, ethnicity and indigeneity with a special focus on 
four groups that have been historically racialized in the United States and beyond: African Americans, 
Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, Chicanas/os & Latinas/os, and Native Americans.   

The historic passage of California’s Assembly Bill No. 1460 (AB1460) in 2020 calls for all incoming 
students across the California State University (CSU) system to complete a course in Ethnic Studies in 
order to graduate.  For many supporters of Ethnic Studies, the signing of AB1460 into law is a long 
overdue recognition of the impact of Ethnic Studies to better prepare university students for a Twenty-
First Century world that still grapples with systemic racism and inequity.        

Rooted in the racial justice struggles of the 1960s, proponents of Ethnic Studies argue that the field’s 
pedagogical and epistemological tools allow for the self-representation of communities that have been 
historically mischaracterized and misrepresented.  As such, Ethnic Studies prioritize equity and agency by 
its empowerment of students of all backgrounds to be voices for change. 

My Journey in Ethnic Studies 
A common story about Ethnic Studies is the way in which the classes, professors and experiences 
transform the lives of the students in profound ways.  Documented extensively by Ethnic Studies 
scholars like Jennie Luna (2019), Collette Chapman-Hilliard and Samuel T. Beasley (2017), and others, 
Ethnic Studies has made a positive impact on students at both the secondary and higher education 
levels.   I, certainly, am no exception.  I grew up far away from the cultural epicenters of Los Angeles and 
the Bay Area, in the small farmworking community of Lompoc, California. Growing up in a mixed Asian 
and Chicana/o-Indigenous home, I had a sense of cultural difference, yet found difficulty in articulating 
language to describe the challenges my working-class family faced.   

Admitted to UCSB as a declared history major, I stumbled upon Chicano Studies (now Chicana and 
Chicano Studies) whose classes opened my eyes to the ways in which the challenges and barriers my 
family had faced for generations were linked to more than just poor judgement on their behalf.  I 
learned about how historically the exploitation and disempowerment of communities of color in the 
state of California were the results of intentional policy in service of enriching those who already held 
positions of power.  Declaring a Chicana/o Studies major changed the trajectory of my life, as it allowed 



Ethnic Studies and the Enduring Legacy of Movements for Racial Justice 
in California 
Nicholas Centino 

Allies for Education 2021, 3, 2 
https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 
 

me to develop meaningful mentorship relationships with professors, forge solidarity and peer support 
networks with fellow majors, The close working relationships and shared theoretical underpinnings with 
other Ethnic Studies departments such Black Studies, Asian American Studies and Indigenous/Native 
American Studies opened my eyes to the scholarship and tools of critical analysis honed across the 
diverse field of Ethnic Studies.  

As a first-generation college student, I knew nothing of graduate school, nor did I have any sense of 
what it took to earn a masters or PHD.  It was through the mentorship of my ethnic studies trained 
professors that I could see myself in their shoes, impacting and encouraging students just like myself.  
The centering of the experiences of people like me kept me engaged and committed to my classes, 
driving me to challenge myself to achieve and convincing me to pursue a graduate degree.  Now, a little 
over 20 years later, I have come full circle, teaching in the Ethnic Studies discipline of Chicana/o Studies 
at CSU Channel Islands, not too far from my hometown that I left in pursuit of my educational and 
career goals.  In this way, my story is just one of many of experienced by students impacted by over fifty 
years of ethnic studies in California. 

What Is Ethnic Studies and How Was It Created? 
The genesis of the academic disciplines that make up Ethnic Studies lie in the movement of students 
fighting for racial justice in the 1960s.  In California, the Black Student Union at San Francisco State 
University was joined by other student-of-color organizations to form the Third World Liberation Front 
(TWLF), a student coalition fighting for demands such as the establishment of courses that examined the 
experiences of Native Americans, Chicanas/os/xs, African Americans and Asian Americans. (CSU Task 
Force on the Advancement of Ethnic Studies, p. 12).  Since then, Ethnic Studies programs and 
departments have been established nationwide.  On college and university campuses, as well as K-12 
institutions, Ethnic Studies exist in the form of a singular comparative Ethnic Studies 
department/program, or as independent Black Studies, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies, Asian 
American and Pacific Islander Studies, or Native American Studies departments/programs, respectively.  
In recent years, many programs and departments established in the discipline’s infancy celebrated their 
fiftieth anniversary, including San Francisco State, whose College of Ethnic Studies traces its roots to the 
TWLF strike in 1969.   

While Ethnic Studies programs and departments may have different names from campus to campus, a 
handful of core tenets are held to by all those trained in the field.  First and foremost, Ethnic Studies is 
more than just a focus on historically racialized groups.  In other words, just because a course may 
examine a minoritized group, it does not mean that the course automatically qualifies as Ethnic Studies.  
Crafted over five decades and drawing on intellectual traditions both new and ancient, Ethnic Studies 
has evolved and developed its own approaches to research and pedagogy.  Hallmarks of Ethnic Studies 
research are “the self-reflexivity of the researcher and educator, a refusal to demonize subject 
communities, a political concern for subaltern peoples, an acknowledgement of intersecting hierarchies 
of power, and the eschewing of universal claims in order to focus on situated knowledges” (Centino, 
2021, p. 16).  Above all else, is the centering of voices of people of color to frame and narrate their own 
experiences in research and pedagogy crafted in the Ethnic Studies tradition.   



Ethnic Studies and the Enduring Legacy of Movements for Racial Justice 
in California 
Nicholas Centino 

Allies for Education 2021, 3, 2 
https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 
 

In addition to bringing these attributes into the classroom, Ethnic Studies educators strive to empower 
their students to becomes voices for change on the intersectional challenges that face them.  As Ethnic 
Studies professor Roberto D. Hernandez states, “Ethnic Studies is about the understanding of 
sociohistorical processes of racialization and other forms of domination, in order to not only challenge 
said processes but to collectively build a different way of existing in the world free of the various -isms 
that continue to divide us” (Hernández, 2021). 

Impact of Ethnic Studies 
In a report of the National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest professional association 
representing 3.2 million educators across the country, the impact of Ethnic Studies was supported by 
several studies denoting a positive relationship between Ethnic Studies pedagogy and the academic 
achievement of students from minoritized communities. (Sleeter, year?). Among those studies are those 
conducted by S. A. Baptiste (2010); R. R. Daus-Magbual (2010); J. Lipka et al. (2005); L.J. Watahomigie 
and T.L. McCarty (1994); D.S. Pollard and C. Ajirotutu (2001) and many more (Tintiangco-Cubales, 2015). 

Despite its origin in institutions of higher education, the report also documents studies pointing to the 
impact of Ethnic Studies in the K-12 system. As scholar Christine Sleeter writes, “although commonly 
perceived as touchy-feely and non-academic—even as lowering academic standards . . . Ethnic Studies 
curricula are academically based, usually designed to improve students’ academic performance, and 
sometimes explicitly focus on university preparation. (Sleeter, 2011, p. ?)” Despite the positive success 
of Ethnic Studies classes nationwide, a 2014 study examining the implementation of Ethnic Studies in 
the San Francisco school district found persistent impediments and opposition to Ethnic Studies in public 
education but also provided key practices to adequately prepare teachers to offer Ethnic Studies 
curriculum (Tintiangco-Cubales, 2014). 

Ethnic Studies in the 2020’s: Achievements and Threats 
The beginning of the 2020’s saw both victories and challenges in the field of Ethnic Studies.  Introduced 
by California Assembly member Shirley Weber, AB 1460 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom 
in the summer of 2020. The legislation mandates the completion of, at minimum, one three-unit course 
in Ethnic Studies at all of the 23 campuses in the CSU system.  Weber, who served as a professor in the 
department of Africana Studies at San Diego State, cites the positive benefits of Ethnic Studies in the 
bill’s language.  Among other organizations, the California Faculty Association and Black Lives Matters LA 
endorsed the bill and lobbied for its passage.  This Ethnic Studies graduation requirement commences 
with incoming students admitted for academic year 2021-2022 and is not mandated for students 
admitted in previous years.  With the passage of AB1460, California is the first state in the nation to 
require a public four-year university system to offer Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement.  The 
passage of AB1460 follows the passage of Assembly Bill 2016 (AB2016) in 2016, which calls for the 
creation of a model curriculum for the implementation of Ethnic Studies in the public K-12 system of the 
state of California. 

Shortly after the passage of AB1460, then-President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) in 
September 2020 to prohibit employee training that employs the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) for all 



Ethnic Studies and the Enduring Legacy of Movements for Racial Justice 
in California 
Nicholas Centino 

Allies for Education 2021, 3, 2 
https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 
 

federal agencies and contractors.  CRT examines policies and practices and the ways in which race and 
racism play a role in explicit and implicit ways resulting in societal inequity.  As published in The Ethnic 
Studies Review, “One of the tenets of CRT is to challenge dominant ideologies that sustain power 
relations” (Campbell, et. al. 2019).  As such, CRT is a prominent analytical framework used commonly in 
Ethnic Studies and is commonly used in professional equity and diversity trainings in both the public and 
private sector.  This EO was rescinded by the Biden administration in January of 2021. 

Resources and Further Reading in Ethnic Studies  
Compiled by Dr. Jose Alamillo and the CSUCI Ethnic Studies Council 
 

Reading List on Ethnic Studies 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jqua6pDP2vYcuoURBTmco-ZFdy2pP2eO/view  

AB-1460 California State University: graduation requirement: Ethnic Studies 

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1460  

Core Competencies for Ethnic Studies Systemwide Graduation Requirement 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cTI83tjVw86Kdkw4i6LoWj1bEKwy8oWj/edit  

Historical Timeline of Ethnic Studies at CSUCI 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1srcEEl1YouAv8NNt6lKhEtiGXA3hErlC-
O_gapPy70c/edit?usp=sharing  

CSUCI Ethnic Studies Speaker Series 2020-2021 Webinar Recordings 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nE0CaEqzqNgZqDpgk8auDmFsWhCEjMzbs1alJ5SGbzw/edit?usp
=sharing  

To contact the Ethnic Studies Council at CSUCI please email: ethnicstudiescouncil@csuci.edu  

 

About the Author 
Born and raised on the central coast, Nicholas F. Centino, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in Chicana & 
Chicano Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Inspired by the alterNative youth cultures 
he encountered growing up in the rural farmworking community of Lompoc, Dr. Centino’s work 
examines the popular cultural practices of Chicanas/os & Latinas/os as strategies of survival and 
negotiation. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jqua6pDP2vYcuoURBTmco-ZFdy2pP2eO/view
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1460
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cTI83tjVw86Kdkw4i6LoWj1bEKwy8oWj/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1srcEEl1YouAv8NNt6lKhEtiGXA3hErlC-O_gapPy70c/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1srcEEl1YouAv8NNt6lKhEtiGXA3hErlC-O_gapPy70c/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nE0CaEqzqNgZqDpgk8auDmFsWhCEjMzbs1alJ5SGbzw/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nE0CaEqzqNgZqDpgk8auDmFsWhCEjMzbs1alJ5SGbzw/edit?usp=sharing
mailto:ethnicstudiescouncil@csuci.edu


Ethnic Studies and the Enduring Legacy of Movements for Racial Justice 
in California 
Nicholas Centino 

Allies for Education 2021, 3, 2 
https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 
 

References 

Baptiste, S. A. (2010). Moving beyond Black History month: How three teachers interpreted and 
implemented the New Jersey Amistad legislation. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Rutgers 
University. 

Centino, N. F. (2021). Razabilly: Transforming sights, sounds, and history in the Los Angeles Latina/o 
Rockabilly scene. Austin: University of Texas Press. 

Chapman-Hilliard, C., Beasley, S.T., McClain, S., Cokley, K.O., Nioplias, A., & Taylor, D.S. (2016).  Do 
culturally empowering courses matter? An exploratory examination of cultural identity and academic 
motivation among Black collegians. Journal of Pan  

Afircan Studies, 9 (8) p. 43-67.CSU Task force on the Advancement of Ethnic Studies (2016). Report of 
the California State  

University Task Force on the Advancement of Ethnic Studies. California State University. 
https://www.calfac.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/fall2016_ethnic_studies.pdf   

Daus-Magbual, R. R. (2010). Political, emotional, powerful: The transformative influence of the Pin@y 
Educational Partnerships. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of San Francisco. 

Hernández, R. D. (2021, March 11). Opinion: experts have shown Ethnic Studies’ value for 50 years. it’s 
time for California to listen. San Diego Union-Tribune. 
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2021-03-11/opinion-ethnic-
studies-evidence-student-excel  

Lipka, J., Hogan, M., Webster, J., Yanez, E., Adams, B., Clark, S., et al. (2005). Math in a cultural context: 
two case studies of a successful culturally-based math project. Anthropology & Education 
Quarterly, 36(4), 367–385. 

Luna, J. (2019). 1999 TWLF at UC Berkeley: an intergenerational struggle for Ethnic Studies.  Ethnic 
Studies Review, 42 (2): 83–98. 

Sleeter, C. E. (2011). The academic and social value of Ethnic Studies: A Research Review.  National 
Education Association. 
https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/84024/AcademicSocialValue.pdf?sequence=1&is
Allowed=y  

Tintiangco-Cubales, A. Kohli R., Sacramento, J., Henning, N., Agarwal-Rangnath R. & Sleeter, C. (2015). 
Toward an Ethnic Studies pedagogy: implications for K-12 schools from the research.  The Urban Review, 
47:104–125.   

Watahomigie, L.J. & McCarty, T.L. (1994). Bilingual/bicultural education at Peach Springs: A Hualapai 
way of schooling. Peabody Journal of Education, 69 (2), 26-42. 

https://www.calfac.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/fall2016_ethnic_studies.pdf
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2021-03-11/opinion-ethnic-studies-evidence-student-excel
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2021-03-11/opinion-ethnic-studies-evidence-student-excel
https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/84024/AcademicSocialValue.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/84024/AcademicSocialValue.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

	Ethnic Studies and the Enduring Legacy of Movements for Racial Justice in California
	As a first-generation college student, I knew nothing of graduate school, nor did I have any sense of what it took to earn a masters or PHD.  It was through the mentorship of my ethnic studies trained professors that I could see myself in their shoes,...
	About the Author
	References

