The Story of Sylvia Mendez

8/20/2020 2:11 pm

Segregation runs deep in the United States and in California. In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that it was legal to separate and segregate communities of people who differed from the political ruling class in a given State or local community. This was famously overturned in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education with the court stating that “separate is inherently unequal.” While some of us may be familiar with the Brown case, there are two points that are important to bear in mind:  Brown, while significant, was not the first successful attempt to desegregate schools and, while several local, State, and Federal court cases ended de jure segregation, de facto segregation lived and even thrives in many communities to this day.

As the population of Mexican-Americans increased in California from the 1910s to 1930s, more local communities in California, and Southern California in particular, created separate schools for white and non-white children. These communities arbitrarily assigned racialized ideas onto children and their parents in the same ways  that State and local laws segregated recreational facilities, hotels, and neighborhoods. Backlash to these new schools was fairly swift, and there were at least two occasions where local residents challenged the creation of separate schools for Mexican-Americans. In 1931 the local community of Lemon Grove in eastern San Diego took the case to the Superior Court of San Diego and won. Ironically, this had to do with the original reason Mexican Americans were not included in section 8003 of the California Education Code – they were considered ‘white’ according to the California Constitution. Similar results were achieved without going to court in El Monte in 1945 when the local parents complained to the to the school board, no court case was needed.

While the Lemon Grove and El Monte examples are important, they tend to pale in importance to Mendez v. Westminster (1946 / 47). The arguments and several individuals involved in Mendez were also prominent when Brown was argued several years later. The story of Sylvia Mendez took place in Orange County where several “remedial” schools had been created to serve Mexican-Americans.

Sylvia Mendez was only 8 years old when she went with her aunt and cousins to enroll at 17^th St. Elementary in Westminster, a school notable for being for white students and having better resources. While she was not allowed to enroll, several of her cousins, who had lighter skin and not-perceived-as-Spanish surnames, were allowed to enroll. The Mendez family, along with other families, pointed out the injustice, illegality, and immorality of this segregation. 

Ultimately, a federal court judge ruled that “co-mingling of the entire student body instills and develops a common cultural attitude,” and segregating Mexican-Americans to be invalid under the California State Constitution. Soon after, section 8003 and 8004 were repealed by the California legislature effectively ending de jure segregation in California. Yet with decades of legalized housing segregation, California, and Los Angeles in particular, endured many years of continued de facto segregation. While local, State, and Federal victories presumed to rid the nation of school segregation, social, economic, and a history discriminatory zoning laws still kept kids apart.

Being told she was different from her cousins and not allowed to go to the same school as other kids was confusing and hurtful for Sylvia.  You can read about her story and how her family fought for educational equality for Sylvia and all Mexican-American kids in Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation.  You can also read an interview with Sylvia Mendez on the 70^th anniversary of Mendez v. Westminster in the LA Times.