Significance Of The Mendez V. Westminster Case Study

In the 1940s, a number of situations and events occurred having to do with American government that were met with mixed opinions. The main issue that factored into many of those was racism, which some encouraged and others hated. Racism was for some a large constraint on the educational front. One such example was when a Latino family with the last name Mendez were not allowed to enroll their children into a school for whites because of their race. They did not think that was reasonable. The Mendez family’s actions during the Mendez v. Westminster case made them deserving of the La Raza award because they paved the way for nationwide integration in America and used their unfair circumstance to speak up against racial prejudice.

First, the Mendez

It created much change, however it did have a not as well recognized precedent. Some 16 years earlier, a case with a very similar idea to Mendez’s called Alvarez v. Lemon Grove occurred. Alvarez was victorious, but his result was ignored. This meant that when Mendez was triumphant and began to gain attention, nationwide desegregation began and eventually lead up to Brown v. Board of Education. (The Brown case would eventually elevate the issue to the Federal level and desegregate schools nationally.) Alvarez, while successful, did not change any of the unfair laws or cause integration. The process began with the Mendez victory and elaborated from there. Next, many white people had no interest in multiracial schools, but some were neutral about the concept and did not know whether to stand out or stand in. Paul J. McCormick, the Judge of the original Mendez v. Westminster case stated in his court excerpt in reference to the delay in education of Spanish-speaking students through segregation the following, “… and that commingling of the entire student body installs and develops a common cultural attitude among the school children which is imperative for

This was done in a few different ways. An example comes from Gonzalo Mendez Sr.’s testimony, where he describes the subpar quality of the Hoover School, Westminster’s Mexican school in the following way, “They do not care about our children.” (G. Mendez, 3) He is referring to the teachers at the school who seemed like they could not care less that children were being cheated out of better education because of race. Furthermore, Mendez is making the obvious statement that the 19th Street School, which was for white children had much more value than Hoover, practically overriding the “separate but equal” norm set by the Plessy v. Ferguson case. This moment was one of the first times in American history where education was beginning to modernize, in that a way that many thought was normal. Segregation was starting to be a topic of controversy. Additionally, Mendez did not immediately let his three children attend school after his case victory but kept fighting to integrate all of California’s schools. This took quite a long time, over 15 years, as most schools refused to change their policies as they saw no wrongdoing. Therefore, the case did not make an immediate large impact but since the Mendez family kept fighting for their equal rights they were rewarded. Another important factor here is that Gonzalo Mendez Sr. did not want his