Research Guides: Sylvia Mendez: Biography

Sylvia Mendez (Born on June 7, 1936)

Sylvia Mendez was born in Santa Ana, California in 1936. As a young child, Ms. Mendez was the child at the center of the landmark 1947 case, Mendez vs. Westminster, in which her parents and neighbors fought against segregated education for children of Mexican descent in southern California, a case that banned segregation in California public schools and paved the way for the national ban on segregated schools in Brown vs. Board of Education seven years later. Continue . . .

Source: "Who is Sylvia Mendez? - Separate is Never Equal" Sylvia Mendez School PTA.

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Separated Is Never Equal
Duncan Tonatiuh discussed his children's book "Separate Is Never Equal," the story of Sylvia Mendez and her family's fight to end ...
Sylvia Mendez and Sandra Mendez Duran
Sylvia Mendez (left), 73, talks to her sister Sandra Mendez Duran (right), 59, about Mendez v. Westminster, their family’s 1945 lawsuit that won Mexican-American children the right to attend white schools.

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The Pursuit of Racial and Ethnic Equality in American Public Schools

Resources

Sent to the 'Mexican school' 75 years ago, Sylvia Mendez's fight for equality continues A Los Angeles Times recent update on Sylvia Mendez continued fight for freedom.
1946: Mendez v. Westminster Guide A Library of Congress Latinx Resource Guide on Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States.
Special Report : The Lasting Impact of Mendez v. Westminster in the Struggle for Desegregation Mendez v. Westminster was the first case to hold that school segregation itself is unconstitutional and violates the 14th Amendment. This special report by American Immigration Council discusses its repercussions and impact.
The FIGHT for WHAT'S RIGHT The article offers information on family of Sylvia Mendez who has struggled and challenges faced like prejudice and discrimination and discusses Mendez family who won their court case and the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public schools.
Background - Mendez v. Westminster Re-Enactment While Brown v. Board of Education is a widely known landmark Supreme Court case, few can trace its origins to the case of nine-year-old Sylvia Mendez in Mendez v. Westminster. Sylvia’s case, which was decided in the federal courts in California, preceded Brown by about eight years. Thurgood Marshall represented Sylvia Mendez and Linda Brown. Marshall used some of the same arguments from Mendez to win Brown v. Board of Education.
Multicultural Education Institute’s Pursuing the Dream: An American Civil Rights Pioneer Reflects on Endeavors for Justice The article offers reflections of civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez on the American desegregation case Mendez v. Westminster at 31st annual Multicultural Education Institute conference, with the theme "pursuing the dream," held in February-March 2017 in Edmond, Oklahoma. Topics include how her father inspired her to fight for equal educational opportunities; Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education; a collaborative effort of minorities for justice; and value of multicultural education.
'We always tell our children they are Americans': Mendez v. Westminster and the beginning of the end of school segregation The article discusses the 1946 U.S. school segregation case known as Mendez v. Westminster. According to the article, the Court of Appeals for the U.S. Ninth Circuit ruled that separate schools for Mexican and Mexican-American children in the U.S. were illegal. The article examines the significance of the classification of Mexican-Americans by the U.S. agency the Census Bureau, the decision by Mexican-Americans Felícitas Méndez and Gonzalo Méndez not to send their children to a segregated school in Orange County, California, and the work of attorney David Marcus.
Mendez v. Westminster: Desegregating California's Schools In 1946, eight years before the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Mexican Americans in Orange County, California won a class action lawsuit to dismantle the segregated school system that existed there. In this video segment, Sylvia Mendez recalls the conditions that triggered the lawsuit and her parents' involvement in the case.
Voices of History: Sylvia Mendez Sylvia Mendez was 9 when her father became a plaintiff in a lawsuit that forced the Westminster school district, in Orange County, Calif., to allow children of Mexican descent to attend schools with white students.
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient: Sylvia Mendez Sylvia Mendez is a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, who is famous for the integral role she played in Mendez v. Westminster. As an eight year old, her parents attempted to enroll Ms. Mendez in the Westminster school. She was denied entry in the "whites" only school and was told to go to the school for Mexican children. On February 18, 1946, Judge Paul McCormick ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and a year later the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court ruling. The Mendez case effectively ended segregation as a matter of law in California. Justice Marshall, who represented the NAACP as amicus in the appellate case, used many of the same arguments years later in Brown v. Board of Education. She currently travels around the country giving speeches on the value of a good education. She is held in high esteem by many education groups and the US Postal Service unveiled a stamp in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the landmark case.