Chapter 15: A Generation of Defiance and Change: An Oral History of Texas Educator and Activist Blandina “Bambi” Cárdenas

Implications of a new educational history of the Chicana/o¹ community and its possible role in shaping education policy and practice appear important. Furthermore, inclusion of Chicanas/os in the telling of that history promises a richer and much more complex picture about the dynamics between Anglos and Chicanas/os in the Southwest. The abandonment of a monolithic tale about Chicanas/os and their schooling experiences illuminates the multidimensional aspects of minority communities. Second, the introduction of new scholarship premised on multiple perspectives opens up possibilities of inclusion. As San Miguel noted in his critique of history textbooks and curriculum, “little to nothing transpired in Texas worthy of record before the coming of the first Anglo settlers from the United States.”² Consequently, curriculum and policymakers need historical accounts of Chicana/o communities, individuals, and their active roles in the schooling of children. The narrative that follows focuses attention on Blandina “Bambi” Cárdenas, a lifelong activist in the field of education in Texas and the Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Cárdenas’s early advocacy for educational and curricular policies affirming the language and cultural assets of Chicanas/os in the United States set the stage for major advances in the development of culturally and linguistically affirming and inclusive curriculum from pre-K though graduate education.