National Association for Bilingual Education

1965–1975

Before the birth of NABE, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) into law. Two years later, Senator Ralph Yarborough proposed the first federal Bilingual Education Act. That legislation was adopted as an amendment to the ESEA in 1968. The law, known alternatively as the Bilingual Education Act, or “Title VII,” was signed into law by President Johnson in 1968.

Four years later, the first National Bilingual/Bicultural Education Conference was held in Austin, Texas. Most of the attendees came from a handful of school districts nationwide. A second and much larger conference took place in San Diego, California. By this time, it was clear that the creation of a professional organization seemed necessary to bring together the nation's leaders in the field and seeking avenues for that expertise to be heard by policymakers. At the [Page 572]San Diego conference, other language groups—other than Hispanics—as well as international representatives were present, and steps were taken to form what became NABE. At the Third Annual International Bilingual/Bicultural Education Conference held in New York City, bylaws of a national bilingual education organization were adopted, and a slate of candidates for the executive board of directors was prepared. The constitution and bylaws of the new organization were approved, and members of the Association's executive board of directors were elected. The initial slate of officers was the following: Albar Peña, president; Hernán LaFontaine, presidentelect; Toni Metcalf, vice president; Juan de Dios Solís, secretary; and Pepe Barron, treasurer.

The next conference of the fledgling organization was held in Chicago with Maria Medina Seidner as the local chairperson. The precedent was established that the work of organizing the annual conferences would be carried out by a committee of members from the city in which the conference was to be held. Nancy Zelasko, then at the Washington, D.C., Public Schools, took on the job of documenting the steps and procedures that were recommended by the preceding conference organizers and subsequently passed on to the next group of conference organizers.

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