When Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, both US citizens tried to enroll their children to the 17th street school in Westminster, CA, they were denied. They were told 17th street school was for White children only and their children had to attend the Mexican school 10 blocks away. The Mendez family would not stand for this and they recruited four other parents from local school districts for a federal court case challenging school segregation.

The Mendez, et al. v. Westminster School District of Orange County case is important for the precedent it set for later court cases, like Brown v. Board of Education, but it is a strong example of the Mexican American community taking the lead to fight for their rights.

On this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about this historic case. 


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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources

https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/background-mendez-v-westminster-re-enactment
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mendez-v-westminster/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendez_v._Westminster
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/tn-wknd-et-0417-sylvia-mendez-70-anniversary-20160417-story.html
https://sylviamendezinthemendezvswestminster.com/aboutus.html
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/setting-the-precedent-mendez-et-al-v-westminster-school-district-of-orange-county-et-al-and-the-us-courthouse-and-post-office.htm
https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/mendez-v-westminster
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2014/05/before-brown-v-board-of-education-there-was-mendez-v-westminster/?loclr=blogtea
https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/phlc-fs-amicus.pdf
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/amicus_curiae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Mendez