Schools in Sacramento
From the 1930s until it was closed in 1969, the Lincoln School served as the main Elementary and Junior High School for the surrounding area that included Japantown. After graduating from the Lincoln School students would go on to attend Sacramento High School. While segregation of schools was permitted throughout California, many places chose not to enforce it due to cost. Segregation would be legal in California until 1947 when a group of Mexican American fathers won a court case against segregated schools in the Ninth Federal District Court of Los Angeles. Soon after the court’s decision, Governor Earl Warren revised the California Education Code and removed the policy of segregation. The Lincoln school replaced the former Primary School that was located on the corner of 4th and Q Streets and was previously called the Franklin Primary School. The Franklin Primary School was built in the early 1890s and changed its name to the Lincoln Primary School in 1893. Throughout its thirty plus years in use the Lincoln School served a highly ethnic neighborhood and at its height the Lincoln School had over 1,200 students. During the internment the student population dropped by thirty-three percent by the spring of 1942 as the entire Japanese population was forced to leave. As the neighborhood changed over the years due to families moving to the suburbs, the school's population declined. By the late 1960s the population declined to 250 elementary students and 450 junior high students. During the 1970s the school was closed and used for administrative purposes. The school was a vital part of the Japanese community as it introduced many of their children to American culture and ideas.