MEXICO, NEW YORK · 1970
​
The family that refused to disappear —
and changed education forever.
In 1970, a mother and father in a small upstate New York town were charged with neglect for teaching their own children at home. What happened next helped lay the legal foundation for homeschooling in America.
The family before the charges. A portrait of ordinary life.
After the court's ruling when the children were returned home.
The case drew national press attention at its height.
A quiet act of conviction
​
Cecile and Jerry Gracey were not radical. They had not planned to homeschool their children — they simply learned about a curriculum in their local public school that they believed was unsuitable, and decided they could not in good conscience send their children back.
The state saw it differently. Neglect charges were filed. The children were removed. What followed was a legal battle that wound through the courts and onto the front pages of newspapers across the country.
Because neglect charges are sealed by default, this case has vanished from most histories of American education. Only Cecile Gracey's decision to release the documents has made it possible to tell this story at all.
YEAR
​
1970
LOCATION
Mexico, NY
SIGNIFICANCE
​
National