By Roland M. Allen, Director of College Counseling and Barbara McMurray

Forty-four St. Margaret’s seniors came face-to-face with history on November 8 as they learned the historical significance of the landmark Orange County civil rights case Mendez v. Westminster. They were privileged to spend the day with Mr. Gonzalo Mendez, Jr., 70, who, with his two siblings, Sylvia and Jerome, was a child plaintiff in the case brought by their parents after they were barred from enrolling in the public “whites-only” 17th Street Elementary School in Westminster, Calif. Instead they were forced to attend the Hoover Elementary School, a two-room wooden shack. Angered that their children were only allowed to attend these separate “schools for Mexicans” in four Orange County districts-Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and El Modena-Mr. Mendez’s parents, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, Sr., and four other families challenged the practice of school segregation. They won their case in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Mendez v. Westminster established-California as the first state in the nation to end segregation in public education and preceded by seven years the more famous landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

Students in Headmaster Marcus D. Hurlbut’s constitutional law classes and Krista Nava’s social justice literature class visited Chapman University in Orange to meet and talk with filmmaker and development associate at Chapman’s College of Educational Studies, Sandra Robbie. Accompanied by Mr. Hurlbut, Associate Headmaster David Boyle and Director of College Counseling Roland Allen, the group was treated to a screening of Ms. Robbie’s Emmy award-winning documentary, Mendez v. Westminster: For all the Children / Para Todos los Niños, which chronicles the story of Sylvia, Jerome and Gonzalo Mendez, Jr., after they moved to a leased 40-acre asparagus farm in Westminster with their parents in 1945.

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In 1947, seven years before the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the court decision in Mendez v. Westminster in Orange County set the stage for ending racial segregation in U.S. public schools.

Key figures in the Mendez case included three-time California Governor Earl Warren and NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, both of whom were justices on the Supreme Court that later ruled in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954. In Brown, the Supreme Court declared in a unanimous 9-0 decision that “separate but equal” laws in individual states that established racially segregated public schools were unconstitutional.

Senior Ryan Tanaka offered these reflections on the field trip: “Going to Chapman to learn more about this case was a great experience. What made it interesting is that it dealt with injustice that occurred in the county we live in today. Whenever I hear about effects that the Brown v. Board of Education case had, I will remember that change was already occurring seven years earlier, close to home.”

Ms. Robbie said, “Chapman University was so proud to have the St. Margaret’s students visit our campus and experience the living legacy of Mendez v. Westminster that is growing through our university archive and now, through St. Margaret’s students. The enthusiasm and deep interest of the students in this history gives honor to the communities of so many colors across the country that worked together for the freedoms we enjoy today.

“I am excited to imagine the ideas and freedoms that will grow from the seeds of this experience as St. Margaret’s students become the leaders in our diverse and global communities,” she added.

The Mendez case is gaining renown. In February of this year, President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ms. Sylvia Mendez, Gonzalo Mendez, Jr.’s sister, for her many years of work to ensure that the importance of Mendez v. Westminster in American history will not be forgotten. In 2007, the U.S. Postal Service commemorated the Mendez case on a postage stamp. There are even two schools named after Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, one in the Santa Ana Unified School District and one in Los Angeles Unified’s Boyle Heights.

Photos provided by Sandra Robbie of Chapman University.

Tags: Education