Back

4b

How did the Case of Mendez v. Westminster Begin?

Welcome to the Mendez Historic Trail and Monument

In 1943, 350,000 Americans of Mexican heritage were serving with the United States military in World War II. More than 9,000 Latino-American troops would die fighting for their country. But here in Orange County, a school would not enroll American children because of their Mexican heritage. Gonzalo Mendez appealed to the superintendent and then to the school board. The answer was always the same — your children have to go to the Mexican school.

Westminster’s 17th Street School was clean and new, filled with new books and materials, and outfitted with a grass playground equipped with swings, teeter totters and monkey bars. At Hoover School, students did not have grass or a playground, only dirt. Every day the children would come home and tell their parents about what was happening at the school. One of the rules was that if you spoke Spanish, you were punished.

Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez were not going to let this happen to their children. A friend told them about an attorney, David Marcus, who had fought segregation in public facilities including parks and pools. They decided to hire him to fight their case. “We have the money, Gonzalo,” Felicitas told her husband. “Let’s do it.”

Gonzalo and Felicitas rallied the Mexican-American community. They partnered with four families from other segregated districts. With their attorney, they extended the complaint to cover 5,000 other Mexican-American children in Orange County. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) joined the cause. Eventually the NAACP, the American Jewish Congress, the Japanese American Citizens League and the American Civil Liberties Union all joined in.

On March 2, 1945, David Marcus filed a petition with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, with the names of the petitioners: Gonzalo Mendez and his children Sylvia, Gonzalo Jr. and Jerome; William Guzman and his son, Billy; Frank Palomino and his children, Arthur and Sally; Thomas Estrada and his children, Clara, Roberto, Francisco, Sylvia, Daniel and Evelina; and Lorenzo Ramirez and his sons, Ignacio, Silverio and Jose. And thus began Mendez, et al, v. Westminster School District, et al, a case that would change America forever.