All illustrations by Ario Murti

History Makers: Sylvia Mendez

As a kid, she became a key figure in the battle for equal education.

November 30, 2020

By Chrisanne Grisé

It was 1944 in Westminster, California. Every day, 8-year-old Sylvia Mendez got off the school bus in front of 17th Street Elementary School. The big, clean building had palm trees in front and plenty of room for students. But what Sylvia remembers most is the playground.

“It had swings, monkey bars, a teeter-totter,” she recalls.

Unfortunately, Sylvia wasn’t allowed to attend that school. It was open only to white students, and she is Mexican American. Instead, Sylvia had to walk down the street to Hoover Elementary. The overcrowded school was just a couple of wooden shacks. At recess, students played on a dirt lot, swatting flies from the cow pasture next door.

At the time, California allowed segregation—the forced separation of people based on the color of their skin. Sylvia’s parents and others in their community decided to stand up for their kids’ right to an equal education.

Facing Injustice

Though Sylvia and her family were American citizens, they were treated like outsiders. At the time, prejudice against people of Mexican heritage was common across the Southwest. For example, some restaurant owners put up signs that read, “No dogs or Mexicans allowed.”

In 1944, the Mendez family moved to Westminster to run a local farm. When they tried to enroll Sylvia and her two brothers at 17th Street Elementary School, they were turned away. Her father asked the principal for an explanation.

“He was told, ‘No, we don’t allow Mexicans,’” Sylvia says. She and her siblings were forced to go to Hoover Elementary instead.

A Legal Battle

Sylvia’s parents didn’t want their children to get an inferior education. They knew their kids deserved the same opportunities that white students had.

In 1945, the Mendez family joined four other Mexican American families and sued the school district. They won the case, which ended segregation in four school districts in California. The case paved the way for a ban on segregation in schools across the U.S. (see “Fighting for Equality,” below).

What They Fought For

In 1947, Sylvia and other Mexican American students were finally allowed to attend 17th Street Elementary. But her first time on the playground was nothing like what she had dreamed of.

“We all go out to play, and this white boy comes up and says, ‘Ew, Mexicans don’t belong here,’” Sylvia recalls.

After school, she went home crying and told her mother she didn’t want to go back.

“She said, ‘Sylvia, don’t you realize what we were fighting for?’” Sylvia remembers. “‘We all deserve equality.’”

It wasn’t until then that Sylvia understood why her parents had gone to court. She returned to school the next day and eventually made many new friends.

Sylvia has never forgotten her mother’s words. Today, at age 84, she continues to share her story so others can see how harmful prejudice can be.

“We all deserve to have an equal education,” Sylvia says.

Fighting for Equality

Here are some major moments in the fight for equal education in the U.S.

1954: The U.S. Supreme Court rules to end segregation in public schools. But many places are slow to make changes.

1957: In Arkansas, U.S. troops are called in to protect the Little Rock Nine—the first Black students at Central High School—from angry white mobs.

1960: Ruby Bridges is the first Black student at an all-white school in Louisiana. Angry parents take their kids out of her class, leaving her as the only student.