How many children does Sylvia Mendez have?

She adopted two daughters and has four grandchildren. She spends her retirement traveling abroad. She has visited all 7 continents. Sylvia enjoys spending time with her family and educating others on the Mendez v Westminster case.

How long was Sylvia Mendez a nurse for?

She worked 33 years as a nurse at the Los Angeles USC Medical Center, becoming Assistant Nursing Director of the Pediatric Pavilion. Since Miss Mendez retired, she has traveled to all seven continents and visited over 60 countries.

What school did Sylvia Mendez sue?

This article is part of Entangled Inequalities: Japanese Incarceration and Mendez, et al. v. Westminster School District of Orange County, et al. In 1944, a public school in California denied entry to Sylvia, Gonzalo Jr, and Jerome Mendez based on their surname and skin color.

What happened to Sylvia Mendez in 2011?

About Mendez v. Westminster. Sylvia Mendez, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a 2011 White House ceremony, was a child when she was turned away from a California public school for "whites only." That rejection fueled her father's determined journey through school, civic, and legal channels.

On what basis did the court decide that the Mendez children had been treated unfairly?

The judges decided the Mendez case on grounds that California law, while still permitting the segregation of certain racial groups, "does not include the segregation of school children because of their Mexican blood." By overstepping their authority, the appeals court concluded, the Orange County school boards violated ...

Voices of History: Sylvia Mendez

Where is Sylvia Mendez today?

Mendez became a nurse and retired after working for thirty years in her field. She adopted two girls and lives in Fullerton, California. She travels and gives lectures to educate others on the historic contributions made by her parents and the co-plaintiffs to the desegregation effort in the United States.

What did the Mendez family do?

The Mendez family (Puerto Rican and Mexican American) recruited similarly aggrieved parents from local school districts for a federal court case challenging school segregation.

Does Sylvia Mendez have kids?

Sylvia Mendez worked for 33 years as a nurse at the Los Angeles University of Southern California Medical Center. In her final five years of service she held the position of Assistant Nursing Director of the Pediatric Pavilion. She adopted two daughters and has four grandchildren.

What did Sylvia Mendez do as a kid?

When Mendez was a child, she moved with her family to Westminster in Orange county, California. In 1944, when Mendez was eight, her family tried to register her and her brothers at a nearby Westminster elementary school. However, the school did not admit Hispanic students.

How many siblings did Sylvia Mendez have?

Sylvia Mendez was born in 1936 in Santa Ana, California. Her family consisted of her mother, Felicitas Mendez, who was from Puerto Rico, her father, Gonzalo Mendez, a naturalized American citizen from Mexico, and three younger siblings.

Is Sylvia Mendez hispanic?

As a little girl in Westminster, California, in 1945, Sylvia Mendez yearned to attend the “beautiful school” with the “nice playground” where the school bus deposited her every morning. But the 9-year-old wasn't allowed in that school — because she was Mexican American.

When did Sylvia Mendez become an activist?

When Sylvia was in third grade, she and her siblings were denied admission to the segregated, "white school" near their Orange County home. The Mendez family fought back. Their 1947 victory desegregated public schools in California and became an example for broader decisions, such as the Brown v Board of education.

What ethnicity is Sylvia Mendez?

Mendez's father, Gonzalo, was from Mexico, and her mother, Felicitas, was from Puerto Rico. When Sylvia was a child, her family moved to Westminster in Orange county, California.

Why is Sylvia Mendez famous?

Her family's case, Mendez v. Westminster, paved the way in 1947 for the famous Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education which led to desegregation of schools across the country eight years later. Their story demonstrates how a small group of citizens can and have changed the course of history.

What is the book about Sylvia Mendez?

Seven years before Brown v. Board of Education, the Mendez family fought to end segregation in California schools. Discover their incredible story in Separate Is Never Equal, a picture book from award-winning creator Duncan Tonatiuh.

How old was Sylvia Mendez when she went to court?

It was a Tuesday morning in the summer of 1945, and Mendez was explaining to a judge how, the previous fall, he had tried to enroll 8-year-old Sylvia and her little brothers in an Orange County public school near their home in Westminster, Ca.

When was Gonzalo Mendez born?

Gonzalo Mendez was born in Mexico in 1913. Mendez, his mother, and her other four children moved to Westminster, California, in 1919. In 1943, at age 30, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States and was a relatively well-off vegetable farmer.

Does Mendez ever get out of jail?

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in March 1996. Both brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to the Associated Press.

How much money did the Mendez family have?

In a twist of events, the brothers did not inherit as much wealth as they expected. They inherited about $2 million each after loans and taxes, but their expectation was to inherit $90 million. Their parents had loans on their Calabasas and Beverly Hills homes.

Did the Mendez case end segregation in California?

In 1947, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Mendez et al. v. Westminster School District of Orange County, et al. brought an end to school segregation in California and supported later civil rights struggles to end all segregation nationally.