Center for the Study of Childcare Employment

The history of early care and education (ECE) is rarely told in the context of state history, yet much of how the ECE system operates reflects historical and present-day state and local contexts. California’s past underlies contemporary racial disparities in access to services for children and families, as well as job roles, training opportunities, and equitable pay for the early care and education workforce. This paper provides an overview of California history as it relates to caring for and teaching young children and aims to inform our understanding of how injustices from pre- and early-statehood continue to replicate themselves in different ways in present-day California. The paper also includes several accounts of resistance by non-White people. We aim to encourage readers to question what they have learned about California, to inspire them to think differently, and to uncover more about the history of their own states and its impact across early care and education today.