 School integration in the United States refers to the process of ending racial segregation in public schools. In fact, access to equal educational opportunities was one of the core demands of the civil rights movement. And in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that the racial segregation of children in public schools was inherently unequal and hence unconstitutional. Now, many people assume that segregation in public schools is a thing of the past. Well, de jure segregation ended but true equity in education has still not been achieved. In fact, many public schools in California even today are among the most segregated in the nation. So this video focuses on the Mendez vs Westminster case and I would like to explain why the issue of de facto segregation in public schools is not just an educational problem but a social issue that could pose a threat to social stability itself. In 1947, the Mendez family won a landmark case which laid the foundation for desegregation in California schools. There is a tendency to discuss the Mendez case as paving the way for Brown vs Board of Education which ended de jure segregation. De jure segregation refers to legalized segregation. After the Civil War, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed citizenship and protection under the law and prohibited racial discrimination. Despite these reconstruction amendments, blatant discrimination against people of color took place through Jim Crow laws. These laws were designed to marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, get jobs, education or other opportunities. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibited discrimination in public facilities, the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896 that racially segregated public facilities such as schools, parks and public transportation were legally permissible as long as they were equal in quality. So this separate but equal doctrine legalized segregation in schools. However, Mexican Americans were classified as white in the 1940 U.S. Census. So Mexican Americans were not victims of de jure segregation but of de facto segregation. And the Mendes case was not about proving that segregation was wrong but that Mexican Americans are white but still experience discrimination. So the Mendes case must be understood in the context of de facto segregation in California during the 1940s. Movie theaters, housing, swimming pools and churches were all segregated. Restaurants posted signs that read no dogs or Mexicans. These segregationist attitudes were reflected in the educational institutions that presumed Mexican cultural inferiority. And the so-called Mexican schools were designed to train boys for agricultural and industrial labor and girls for housekeeping. Speaking Spanish in school was prohibited. Students were not taught math and science instead they were given vocational training. This educational system benefited the white farm owners in Orange County because the Mexican American kids that dropped out early joined their parents to work in the fields. In many ways segregation not only thrived on racism but also supported a system that depended on the continual flow of labor from the Mexican American community. In the 1940s the school districts mandated separate education for Spanish speaking children of Mexican descent. So the challenge for the Mendes family began in September 1943 when 8 year old Sylvia Mendes and her two brothers Jerome and Gonzalo went with their aunt and three cousins to enroll at the 17th Street School in Westminster. The school administrators refused to admit Sylvia Mendes and her brothers and told them to go to a separate school reserved for Mexican American students because they were dark skinned and had a Mexican last name. The parents, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendes were shocked because Gonzalo himself had studied in that Westminster school before it was so segregated. And Felicitas, she was an American citizen from Puerto Rico. And in the court trial Felicitas said we always tell our children that they are American. American kids go to their neighborhood school so why can't my kids? When the Westminster school board refused to admit his kids Gonzalo Mendes hired a civil rights lawyer David Marcus to sue the school district. David Marcus initiated a class action lawsuit that included four other Mexican American fathers. William Guzman, Frank Palomino, Thomas Estrada and Lorenzo Ramirez against four school districts. This wasn't a case about racial discrimination because Mexican Americans were classified as white. And there was nothing in the law that allowed for discrimination within the race. So the school district argued that it was about language skills. The Mendes kids didn't speak English so they had to be segregated for their own benefit. This was total nonsense because the Mendes kids spoke English and they had never been tested for their language skills. Then in the trial it emerged that the school's administrators viewed Mexican American kids as morally different, dirty and diseased. And this was expressed openly during the trial. In the 1940s it was perfectly acceptable in America to say that there were biological differences between the races. And ironically this happened at a time where the United States was involved in World War II, a war for democracy. So the case was heard in 1946 by Judge Paul McCormick. And this was an interesting case where the plaintiffs were Mexican American. Their lawyer David Marcus was Jewish American and the son of immigrants. The judge Paul McCormick was Irish Catholic. The trial lasted for two weeks during which David Marcus called a number of powerful witnesses to the stand including Mexican American children to testify on how it felt to be rejected by the white school. Nine-year-old Sylvia Mendes also testified. Several educators provided evidence to show how discrimination and feelings of inferiority have a negative impact on learning and development. David Marcus showed that segregated schools created a sense of social inequality. The low-quality school facilities and curriculum did not provide a good education. The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law, but in this case separate was unequal and hence a clear violation of the 14th Amendment. Marcus also showed how the superintendents in various school districts had colluded to put Mexican American kids in separate schools and prevented them from getting a good education. The testimony of a Mexican American mom was very moving. She had two sons. The older one had been drafted to fight in the war in the Philippines. And sadly the younger son had been denied admission in school. So she asked, if my kids are dirty, why was my son recruited to fight in the war, send him home? Marcus showed how discrimination based on national origin violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In March 1946, Judge McCormick ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and wrote, A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school association, regardless of lineage. The school districts appealed the decision, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the federal controlling. And in 1947, the governor of California, Earl Warren signed the bill that ended segregation in public schools in California. In 1948, Sylvia and her brothers were allowed to attend the 17th Street School in Westminster. In 2007, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Mendes Trial, the US Postal Service issued a special stamp. In 2011, Sylvia Mendes was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 73 years after the Mendes Trial, public school enrollment has grown larger and more diverse by race. Despite the increase in diversity, segregation has intensified and expanded. In 1970, on average, Latinos attended schools that were 54% white, but now attend schools that are 84% non-white. The UCLA Civil Rights Project report showed that California is now the state in which Latinos are the most segregated. So we need to ask, what's the point of desegregation if we're integrating schools in a homogenous population? The basic mechanism of racial subordination in the United States today is not violence or Jim Crow. Today it is done through housing. So housing policy has to be part of the solution to unequal education. In the description box below, you'll find the link to the UCLA Civil Rights Project.