On Feb. 18, 1946, U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick found that the segregation of Mexican students to Mexican-only schools in the Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster, and El Modeno school districts was unconstitutional, violating the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The case, titled Mendez, et al. vs. Westminster, et al. made nationwide headlines at the time; the appeal, upheld a year later in the Ninth District Court of Appeals, drew the interest of the NAACP’s Thurgood Marshall and then-California Governor Earl Warren. Those two, of course, went on to argue for and rule in favor of Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that ended government-sanctioned school segregation once and for all.
And then the case was largely forgotten ever since, save for a couple of Chicano Studies folks who never bothered to learn the whole story.
I wish the truth about Mendez, et al. was fare less cavalier than how I just presented it—but it ain’t. Fact is, the case remains virtually unknown and misunderstood despite its titanic implications for civil rights in the United States. How little known? Even those who know about it almost universally call it by the wrong name: Mendez, vs. Westminster. How misunderstood? The few historians and civil rights activists who have ever bothered with the case have always elevated one plaintiff family—the one headed by Gonzalez Mendez of Westminster—above the other four headed by Lorenzo Ramirez of Orange, Thomas Estrada of Westminster, William Guzman of Santa Ana, and Frank Palomino of Garden Grove. And if you think I’m exaggerating, try this experiment: try to find four separate pages online about the detailed involvement of Ortega, Guzman and Palomino—go on, I’ll wait. Hell, there’s been more ink spilled on a Japanese-American family that were friends of Gonzalo Mendez than on the other three families.
The only exception to this is Lorenzo Ramirez, who sued the El Modeno School District (now part of Orange Unified School District) because the district wouldn’t allow his children to attend the same school he did in the 1920s. He at least has a statue of himself in a library named after him at Santiago Canyon College. But, as I wrote six years ago, Lorenzo’s story had to be dragged out kicking and screaming from the proverbial dustbin after the adult children of Ramirez had a public falling-out with Sandra Robbie, a Chapman University student affairs coordinator who directed an Emmy-winning documentary on Mendez, et al that focused almost exclusively on the Mendez family and reduced the other families to—I kid you not—a seconds-long shot of their names on the original lawsuit.
Sorry not sorry if I’m coming off as bitter instead of celebratory. But as someone who has covered the evolution of the case for nearly 15 years, Mendez et al vs. Westminster, et al. remains my ultimate example of why people should tell full stories instead of reducing them to soundbites. The very fact that Gonzalo Mendez and his wife, Felicitas, have two schools named after them, in school districts (LA Unified and Santa Ana) that didn’t even pertain to their part of Mendez, et al. shows how people will run with certain parts of the story while leaving the best, most pertinent parts behind. And don’t think I’m somehow picking on the Mendez family, either: their home district of Westminster has never bothered to acknowledge them, preferring instead to name schools after Hollywood mega-director Cecil B. DeMille and Californio asshole Leo Carrillo.
But historians focusing so hard on one family missed the rest of the story for decades. For instance, it was wondered out loud for years how the plaintiffs in Mendez, et al, found an LA-based attorney, David C. Marcus, to take on the case, with everyone accepting the conventional wisdom that Gonzalo Mendez magically plucked him out from of nowhere. It wasn’t until 2010, when Cal State Fullerton graduate student Luis F. Fernandez discovered that Marcus had successfully tried the case of Fullerton resident Alex Bernal—sued by his neighbors in 1943 for daring to be a Mexican in a whites-only neighborhood—in 1943, and was already known by Lorenzo Ramirez. Reporters repeated without challenge the claim that Gonzalo Mendez valiantly fought against desegregation by himself, trying desperately to involve other families in his struggle to the point of crying at home, despite records showing families in Santa Ana organizing against Mexican-only schools as far back as the 1920s.
Anyhoo, anyone interested in learning more should consult the official Mendez, et al vs. Westminster, et al website run by the Ramirez family, where you can read trial transcripts and bunch of other fascinating, primary-source material. And the final takeway from all this? Know your Mexican-American history—but know it completely.
Hey, never came across this article, on point!
Hi Gustavo, My Aunt Beverly moved to Lake Arrowhead and did you know 2 years ago she lost her husband Mike Gallegos? His love and dedication towards my family is truely missed. He was my favorite. He took ill, and within 3 weeks the devastating news of stage 4 cancer abruptly devastated the family and the Lord took him home. As you know my Gramma Guzman lived to be 100 years of greatness and passed in 2017. For oodles of years she shared to my Aunt Beverly their story described in detail relayed every aspect of “THE GUZMAN’S” own personal memories from 1944-47 because as you know there were 5 families involved and each have their own personal factual story and You Mr. ARELLANO got it on point here in your article(s).
My grandpa Willy was strict and smart. When they received the letter from the school system it was puzzling as to why they recieved the news that their son Billy was to go to the Fremont school rather than the closer nicer bigger Franklin school. Sadly my father lil Billy age 8 or 9 would be separated from his best buddy and neighbor Norman Kent. Anyhoo… im here not to set the record straight but i will always emphasize the words “separate is not equal” because it’s not, when only 1 can do so little, put the “OTHER 4 FAMILIES” as was proven, and see how they did so much! Et Al’s Separate, yup, Equal, nope. I pray someday we can all come together and have a meet and greet, or a Class Action Bingo night, or a CLASS ACTION Christmas party. Hey don’t be surprized if you see me and my posse standing on the corner like Cheerio waving and holding signs. Like the scrolls in the bible, it is written in stone in the transcripts that the trials named everyone that grouped together because they just had to do something about this violation of the rights to their children, and your children, and ALL those children.
Lastly i have 11 grandkids, single gramma here, always attempting to instill positivity and set an example so i say, “if it’s true then there is no need to debate, plus God knows so be honest and you will always see the glass half full.
I’m 58, and just now have two feet in this so as to make my families light shine and make them proud so I aim to carry on this Legacy. Mendez et al case it’s too leggit to quit, lol,. Say their names…..Introducing the whole enchilada F. Palomino, T. Estrada, L. Ramirez, W. Guzman AMIGOS UNIDOS.
Hi Gustavo, My Aunt Beverly moved to Lake Arrowhead and did you know 2 years ago she lost her husband Mike Gallegos? His love and dedication towards my family is truely missed. He was my favorite. He took ill, and within 3 weeks the devastating news of stage 4 cancer abruptly devastated the family and the Lord took him home. As you know my Gramma Guzman lived to be 100 years of greatness and passed in 2017. For oodles of years she shared to my Aunt Beverly their story described in detail relayed every aspect of “THE GUZMAN’S” own personal memories from 1944-47 because as you know there were 5 families involved and each have their own personal factual story and You Mr. ARELLANO got it on point here in your article(s).
My grandpa Willy was strict and smart. When they received the letter from the school system it was puzzling as to why they recieved the news that their son Billy was to go to the Fremont school rather than the closer nicer bigger Franklin school. Sadly my father lil Billy age 8 or 9 would be separated from his best buddy and neighbor Norman Kent. Anyhoo… im here not to set the record straight but i will always emphasize the words “separate is not equal” because it’s not, when only 1 can do so little, put the “OTHER 4 FAMILIES” as was proven, and see how they did so much! Et Al’s Separate, yup, Equal, nope. I pray someday we can all come together and have a meet and greet, or a Class Action Bingo night, or a CLASS ACTION Christmas party. Hey don’t be surprized if you see me and my posse standing on the corner like Cheerio waving and holding signs. Like the scrolls in the bible, it is written in stone in the transcripts that the trials named everyone that grouped together because they just had to do something about this violation of the rights to their children, and your children, and ALL those children.
Lastly i have 11 grandkids, single gramma here, always attempting to instill positivity and set an example so i say, “if it’s true then there is no need to debate, plus God knows so be honest and you will always see the glass half full.
I’m 58, and just now have two feet in this so as to make my families light shine and make them proud so I aim to carry on this Legacy. Mendez et al case it’s too leggit to quit, lol,. Say their names…..Introducing the whole enchilada F. Palomino, T. Estrada, L. Ramirez, W. Guzman AMIGOS UNIDOS.