Back

2c

How Did the Mendez Family Become Part of “We the People” in Westminster?

The Mendez Family Journey

Gonzalo Mendez was born in Mexico in 1913, soon after the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. That revolution challenged the authority of Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, who had been in power for more than 30 years. Mexicans who had been denied participation in governing their own nation were seeking a voice. The disruptions related to the revolution continued for 10 years, uprooting hundreds of thousands of Mexicans, many of whom came north to California seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families. Gonzalo’s family was among them.

Gonzalo went to school in Westminster before the district imposed a policy of segregated schools. He later became a naturalized American citizen, married Felicitas Gomez and started a restaurant in Santa Ana.

Felicitas was born in Puerto Rico in 1916. Because Puerto Rico was a United States territory, Felicitas was an American citizen. She moved with her family first to Arizona and then to California, where she met and married Gonzalo in 1936.

Gonzalo and Felicitas moved to Westminster with their three children in 1943 after leasing a 40-acre farm from the Munemitsu family, which had been sent to an internment camp for Japanese-Americans in 1942 . The Mendez family’s move to Westminster made them part of “We the People” in this city and set the stage for what would become one of the most important court cases in California history.