Mendez’s family moved to a farm in Orange County, California, in 1943, only to learn that Westminster schools would not admit Mexican American students into white schools, and that she would have to attend a school for Hispanic students. Her parents organized and paid for a class-action lawsuit. Five families, including Mendez’s, were plaintiffs.
A federal court ruled in their favor, and that decision was upheld by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in 1947. However, Mendez v. Westminster never reached the U.S. Supreme Court, because then-Gov. Earl Warren signed legislation that outlawed school segregation in California.
Many of the arguments in Mendez were later used by Thurgood Marshall in Brown v. Board, but the Mendez case lapsed into obscurity for many years. At her mother’s urging, Mendez began speaking about the case, and in 2011, she received the presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2019, the city of Westminster opened a sculpture park honoring Mendez, her family, and the case they brought.
An educational page and reenactment activity provide additional information about the historic case.
