In 1946, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez filed a lawsuit against Westminster and three other Orange County school districts for denying a request to enroll their children, due to the family’s Mexican surname and heritage. In this landmark desegregation case, Mendez v. Westminster, the courts ruled that Westminster had denied the Mendez children’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Nearly 10 years later, Mendez provided a precedent for Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schools across the country.
Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School: A Community School That Honors Its Neighborhood’s Legacy of Educational Justice
