Bill Text: CA SCR145 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Alice Piper Day.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-21 - Read second time. Ordered to third reading. [SCR145 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SCR145-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
May 20, 2024 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 145
| Introduced by Senator Alvarado-Gil (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Ramos) |
May 07, 2024 |
Relative to Alice Piper Day.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 145, as amended, Alvarado-Gil.
Alice Piper Day.
This measure would recognize the historic legacy of Alice Piper’s resolve and dedication, and would commemorate June 2, 2024, as Alice Piper Day in California.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, Alice Piper was born on June 7, 1908, in Big Pine, California; and
WHEREAS, Piper attended an Indian day school run by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, which opened during the height of the assimilationist model of Native American education; and
WHEREAS, Late 19th-century California court cases had affirmed the right of local school districts to follow a “separate but equal” doctrine; and
WHEREAS, At that time, California law prohibited Native American children from attending a public school if a separate government-run Indian school was established within three miles of the public school; and
WHEREAS, In August 1923, Piper and six other Native children attempted to attend the Big Pine grammar school and were refused by the school board; and
WHEREAS, Piper, a 15-year-old Paiute pupil, made history in 1924 by successfully suing the Big Pine School District of Inyo County to integrate their classrooms and allow Indigenous pupils to attend their newly built school; and
WHEREAS, The court sided with Piper on the basis that her parents were tax-paying citizens of the United States who had not lived on a reservation; and
WHEREAS, Piper’s successful lawsuit, decided unanimously by the California Supreme Court on June 2, 1924, represented a significant step in school integration in California and the nation; and
WHEREAS, The California Supreme Court case,Piper v. Big Pine Schol Dist. of Inyo County (1924) 193 Cal. 664, (1924) 193 Cal. 664,, case, Piper v. Big Pine School Dist. of Inyo County (1924) 193 Cal. 664,
not only changed the treatment of Indigenous pupils in California schools, but also set a precedent that was later cited by the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) 347 U.S. 483,, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) 347 U.S. 483, which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the historic legacy of Alice Piper’s resolve and dedication; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature honors Alice Piper and commemorates June 2, 2024, as Alice Piper Day in California; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
