The history of kindergarten in Baltimore City, Maryland

Kindergarten was originally designed in 1837 to create social interaction and learning through play, became a sculpting tool for political issues at the turn of the twentieth century. This thesis explores how the changing racial and ethnic demographic of students in Baltimore affected policies related to kindergarten in the city. It shows kindergarten as a tool for social activism under the guise of teaching American patriotism. This thesis uses government legislation and secondary sources to show how education was influenced by increased immigration and segregation in Baltimore City during the mid-twentieth century.;The significance of this thesis lies in its exposure of class, ethnic, and racial stratification in education at its most basic level; class in this regard refers to socioeconomic status influenced by ethnicity and race. Kindergarten, while being promoted as a way to blend cultures in a changing society, actually reinforced the disparity among classes by allowing elites to capitalize on their fears related to these differing cultures.