Separate is never equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation

That fall, Sylvia and her brother had to attend Hoover Elementary, better known as “the Mexican school,” on Olive Street in the city of Westminster.

The building was a clapboard shack, and the halls were not spacious or clean. A cow pasture surrounded the school. The students had to eat their lunch outside, and files would land on their food. There was an electric wire that surrounded the pasture to keep the cows in. If you touched it, you received a shock! The school did not have a playground- not even a swing.

The Mendez family did not give up. Time and time again, Sylvia heard her father talk with coworkers, friends, and other parents. “It’s not fair that our kids have to go to an inferior school,” he said. “It’s not only the building that’s a problem- the teachers at school don’t care about our children’s education. They expect them to drop out by the eighth grade. How will our children succeed and become doctors, lawyers, or teachers?”

Mr. Mendez created a group called the Parents’ Association of Mexican-American children. He tried to collect signatures for a petition to integrate schools so that all children, regardless of their skin color or background, could have the same opportunities.