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Migration ist eine globale Realität und seit jeher Teil der Menschheitsgeschichte. Dennoch gehört sie bis heute zu den am stärksten umkämpften öffentlichen Themen. 

Sowohl Menschen als auch Grenzen sind ständig in Bewegung. Wer sich bewegen darf und wem Rechte zugesprochen werden, zeigt, wer als Teil der Nation angesehen wird. In Deutschland wie in den Vereinigten Staaten sind diese Debatten — und die damit verbundenen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Praktiken — eng mit sich wandelnden Vorstellungen von „Rasse“, Kultur und Sprache verbunden. 

Diese Zeitleisten zeigen, wie Rechte und Zugehörigkeit durch Gesetze, migrantische Bewegungen und Kämpfe, globale Ereignisse und kulturelle Werke ausgehandelt, infrage gestellt und neu definiert wurden — und wie diese Geschichten bis heute nachwirken. 

Entstanden sind die Zeitleisten in einem community-basierten Prozess gemeinsam mit Partner*innen aus migrantischen Selbstorganisationen, Bildungsinstitutionen und Wissenschaft sowie mit Unterstützung vieler weiterer Beteiligter und Ehrenamtlicher.

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1839
State Legislation Authorizes German Bilingual Education

Bilingual education in the U.S. originated with the German language dating back to the 1700s. In 1839, following a decade of significant German immigration, Ohio passed legislation, authorizing German instruction in the classroom.

By the 1880s, nearly half a million students were enrolled in German bilingual schools. At the turn of the century, there were nearly one dozen states that allowed bilingual education with several languages. Through the nineteenth century onward, bilingual education experienced numerous waves of support and contention. The first major attack against bilingual German education resulted from the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment following World War I. Suspicion over German American loyalties incited English-only instruction laws. During the inter-war period, school systems cracked down on English testing and fluency policies to reduce instruction in native languages. Shifting demographics in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries transferred the focus of bilingual education debates to Spanish-speaking immigrants. It was not until 1968, amidst the Civil Rights Movement, that President Lyndon Johnson signed the federal Bilingual Education Act (see also: Bilingual Education Act Aims to Serve Non-Native English Speakers) to support and provide funding for native-language instruction. Debates over the methodology and ideology of bilingual education continue today.
The first major attack against bilingual German education resulted from the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment following World War I.
United States
Sources
  1. Sarah Lipka. The Battle Over Bilingual Education. The Atlantic. December 11, 2002. Date accessed: August 31, 2015.
  2. Legislative history of bilingual education. Bilingual Education. University of Michigan. Date accessed: August 31, 2015.
Additional Resources
  1. German Schools in the Area. Germany.info. Date accessed: May 8, 2016.
  2. National Association for Bilingual Education. National Association for Bilingual Education. Date accessed: May 8, 2016.
  3. German Language School Conference. German Language School Conference. Date accessed: May 8, 2016.
  4. Phillip M. Carter. Why this bilingual education ban should have repealed long ago. CNN.com. 04/03/2014.
  5. Renate Ludanyi, Na Liu. German Heritage Language Schools in the United States. Heritage Briefs Collection. Centre for Applied Linguistics.
  6. Karen Sakash. Bilingual Education. The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago.
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