By Emma Goldston '24
When celebrating Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month, Sylvia Mendez is an individual who deserves recognition for her actions and legacy. Born in 1936 in a segregated Santa Ana neighborhood, she paved the way for desegregation. Mendez dreamed of going to the segregated “beautiful school” down the road from her Mexican school. So, her family registered to send her to a white only school. However, she was denied admission, while her cousins with fairer skin and European last names were able to attend. In 1947, she was the young child at the front of the Supreme Court Case Mendez vs. Westminster. In this case, her neighbors and parents fought against segregation of children from Mexican descent in her school in Southern California. Close to a year after the initial case was filed, Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled in favor of the Mendez family. The ruling was held a year later, and Sylvia was admitted to the segregated school, the 17th Street School. Her fight against segregation had paved the way for her case's successor, Brown vs Board of Education, seven years later.
“This is the history of the United States, the history of California,” The Los Angeles Times wrote in 2016. “[The case] Mendez isn’t just about Mexicans. It’s about everybody coming together. If you start fighting for justice, then people of all ethnicities will become involved.”
Once retired from working as a pediatric nurse, Syliva Mendez devoted her life to tirelessly carrying on her family’s story, determination, and their accomplishments. In 2011, Ms. Mendez accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her fight in educational equality. This exceptional woman truly made a difference in the lives of discriminated and segregated schoolchildren in the United States of America.
Editors: Natalia Cseh, Ms. Brilliant, Cecilia Fiorindo.
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A true warrior for equity and justice!