Who was born in Santa Ana California in 1936?

Civil Rights Activist Sylvia Mendez was born in 1936 in Santa Ana, California.

What is Sylvia Mendez doing now?

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 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.

Why is Sylvia Mendez important?

Sylvia Mendez, (born June 7, 1936, Santa Ana, California, U.S.), American civil rights activist and nurse who was at the centre of the court case Mendez v. Westminster, in which a federal court ruled in the mid-1940s that the school segregation of Hispanic children was unconstitutional.

What did the Mendez family do?

Gonzalo Mendez turned over managing the farm to his wife, Felicita. This allowed him time to organize Mexican-American parents to challenge the segregation of their children in Westminster and three other Orange County school districts. In 1945, Mendez and the other parents sued the school districts in federal court.

The History of Santa Ana, ( Orange County ) California !!! U.S. History and Unknowns

Who is Sylvia Mendez and what did her family do?

Civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez is the oldest daughter of Gonzalo Mendez, a Mexican immigrant, and Felicitas Mendez, a Puerto Rican, who challenged segregation so that she and other Latino children could be provided the same quality education provided to white students.

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.

Why did Sylvia Mendez get the Medal of Freedom?

A young Mexican-American girl named Sylvia Mendez was at the center of the famous Mendez v. Westminster case from 1947, which led to the desegregation of schools for Latino children on the U.S. West Coast.

Did Thurgood Marshall represent Sylvia Mendez?

Thurgood Marshall represented Sylvia Mendez and Linda Brown. Marshall used some of the same arguments from Mendez to win Brown v. Board of Education.

Does Sylvia Mendez have any kids?

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.

What was Sylvia Mendez's legacy?

Learn more about the life and legacy of civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez and her family, who spearheaded a federal lawsuit which helped end school segregation in California and pave the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

Is Sylvia Mendez hispanic?

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.

Where did the Mendez family live?

A crucial fact about school segregation in California in the mid-1940s, when the Mendez family moved from Santa Ana to Westminster, is that there were no state laws requiring separate schooling for children of Mexican descent.

What kind of medal did President Barack Obama issue Sylvia Mendez?

2/16/2011. Sylvia Mendez was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on February 15, 2011. This video of Mendez was created by the Obama White House to mark the occasion and highlight Mendez's activism and role in the landmark case Mendez v. Westminster School District.

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.

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.

How did Sylvia Mendez help the civil rights movement?

When her parents mounted a legal challenge to the school district's segregation practices, she found herself at the center of Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County. The lawsuit helped bring about the end of school segregation in California. It also paved the way for the Brown v.

Why did the Mendez family go to court?

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

What happened in 1946 in Santa Ana California?

In 1946, eight years before the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Mexican Americans in Orange County, California won a class action lawsuit to dismantle the segregated school system that existed there.

How many California schools are named after Sylvia's parents?

Two Southern California schools are named for her parents, who lent the family name to the class-action suit Mendez v. Westminster that led to the desegregation of California's public schools.