In deciding the1946 case of Mendez v. Westminster, federal courts opened the doors to equal access to public schools for nine-year-old Sylvia Mendez and generations of Hispanic and other children. The rulings of two federal courts in Mendez declared unconstitutional the segregation of Mexican children in California public schools and set the stage for Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark school desegregation case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954.
Sylvia Mendez, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a 2011 White House ceremony, was a child when she was turned away from a California public school for "whites only." That rejection fueled her father's determined journey through school, civic, and legal channels. Gonzalo Mendez, represented by a civil rights attorney, took four Los Angeles-area school districts to court and won a class action lawsuit at the trial and appellate levels of the federal court system.
Ms. Mendez carries on the legacy of Mendez v. Westminster when she explains that her parents taught her: "That we are all individuals; that we are all human beings; that we are all connected together; and that we all have the same rights, the same freedom."
During a two-week trial, the Mendez family's attorney David Marcus took the then-unusual approach of presenting social science evidence to support his argument that segregation resulted in feelings of inferiority among Mexican-American children that could undermine their ability to be productive Americans. U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick agreed with the plaintiffs and ordered that the school districts cease their "discriminatory practices against the pupils of Mexican descent in the public schools."
In his decision Judge McCormick wrote: "'[t]he equal protection of the laws pertaining to the public school system in California is not provided by furnishing in separate schools the same technical facilities, textbooks and courses of instruction to children of Mexican ancestry that are available to the other public school children regardless of their ancestry. A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school association regardless of lineage."
The school districts appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Court of Appeals affirmed Judge McCormick's ruling. Two months later, California's Governor Earl Warren signed a bill ending school segregation in California, making it the first state to officially desegregate its public schools.
While the case was pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, several organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed amicus (friend of the court) briefs. Writing for the NAACP was Thurgood Marshall who, five years later, used similar reasoning before the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The Supreme Court adopted many of Marshall's arguments and, in 1954, issued an opinion ending school segregation throughout the United States. The opinion was written by Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Sylvia Mendez went on to earn degrees in nursing and became the Assistant Nursing Director of the Pediatric Pavilion at the Los Angeles University of Southern California Medical Center. Since her retirement, she has dedicated her time to educating students about the Mendez case and encouraging young people to stay in school. In 2007, the United States Post Office issued a stamp commemorating Mendez v. Westminster. In 2009, the Los Angeles Unified School District dedicated a new East Los Angeles high school, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez Learning Center.