Tempe History Society Lunch Talks

Grácia Liliana Fernández: the Bilingual Heroine Who Made the Tempe Normal School Famous By Dr. Chris Marin

When Tempe Normal School was established in 1886, it had no Spanish curriculum nor a bilingual professor to teach Spanish to enrolled TNS students, despite the demand to train bilingual teachers to educate Spanish-speaking pupils in Arizona’s elementary schools. They were taught by white teachers who didn’t speak nor understand Spanish. Spanish-speaking children continued to fail and progress in their education. Twenty-one years later, Bilingual Education was born at TNS in 1907.

Dr. Christine Marin, Historian/Archivist and Professor Emeriti at ASU, is the founder and director of the Chicano/a Research Collection and Archives at the Hayden Library at ASU. Dr. Marin is President of the Tempe History Society and is a native of Globe, Arizona and grew up on the legendary street, Euclid Avenue. Stop by Tempe History Museum for this free talk presented by Tempe History Society with generous support from Friendship Village