Sylvia Mendez and her brothers were turned away from the so-called “White school” in Westminster, California, in 1943 and told they had to go to a “Mexican school.” Sylvia was the daughter of Gonzalo Mendez, a Mexican immigrant and Felicitas Mendez, a Puerto Rican immigrant. Gonzalo and Felicitas decided to fight so that their children, and all children, could have an equal education. Their efforts resulted in the landmark court case known as Mendez, et al, v. Westminster, et al, which led to the end of legal school segregation in California in 1947 and laid the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
Sylvia speaks to students and educators across the nation to share her childhood experiences, her family’s quest, and the story of ordinary people standing together to change history. She conveys the importance of obtaining an education and encourages students to stay in school and continue their education.
Sylvia Mendez was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented to her by President Barack Obama in 2011
See Jasmine Chhabria, a ninth-grade student, performed her symbolic re-enactment of the landmark legal case on school desegregation, a presentation she calls “Mendez vs. Westminster: Conflict and Compromise in Segregated Education.”
