The Legacy of Sylvia Mendez: Books, Videos, and Lesson Plans

Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation

Learn more about the life and legacy of civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez and her family, who spearheaded a federal lawsuit which helped end school segregation in California and pave the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

Books and Classroom Resources

Getting started

In the 1940s, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, who hailed from Puerto Rico and Mexico respectively, organized a group of Mexican-American families to file a lawsuit against the local California school districts who denied their children access to their schools.

This suit, Mendez v. Westminster, would eventually help end school segregation in California and pave the way for Brown v. Board of Education nearly a decade later. Sylvia Mendez, one of three children in the Mendez family, won a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

Books

Lesson plans

More related resources


Videos

Duncan Tonatiuh on the making of Separate Is Never Equal

Duncan Tonatiuh reads from Separate Is Never Equal

Sylvia Mendez Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Sylvia Mendez Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom (en español)

Felicitas Mendez: Behind the Google Doodle