Did you know that Mendez et. al v. Westminster School District led to the desegregation of schools in California seven years before the federal Brown v. Board of Education decision? In 1947, right in our own backyard, a courageous family with a little girl named Sylvia Mendez and two boys fought for the rights of 5,000 children of Mexican heritage to have the choice to attend their neighborhood school—but many people are unaware of this groundbreaking case.
Orange County’s oldest four-year college, Vanguard University (VU), recognized the impact of this local history. To ensure this important lesson is shared with future generations, every semester all teaching credential students experience an immersive visit to the Mendez Tribute Monument Park in Westminster and get to meet with Sylvia Mendez herself.
Learning that newly proposed bipartisan state legislation (AB 1805) would mandate the case be part of history/social science curriculum in public schools in California, Reveille jumped on the opportunity to share that VU is already prepping its teachers-to-be for future classroom lessons on this topic. The team invited media to walk with VU students along the path that Sylvia and her brothers took to school, resulting in a front-page story in The Orange County Register, a key feature in the Daily Pilot and segments on KCAL, KNBC and Spectrum News 1.
