Appeals Court Rules Segregated Mexican-American Schools in California Unconstitutional
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on this day that the establishment of separate schools for Mexican-Americans was an unconstitutional violation of the California State Constitution. The case was Mendez v. Westminster and involved schools in Orange County, California.
Learn about the Sylvia Mendez, the plaintiff in the case.
Two months later, Governor Earl Warren signed into law a repeal of segregationist statutes in California.
Seven years later, on May 17, 1954, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren wrote the unanimous opinion in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional.
Learn more about the case: http://www.texasbar.com/civics/High%20School%20cases/mendez-v-westminster.html
Read about the case: Philippa Strum, Mendez v. Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights (2010)
Learn more: Felipe Fernandex-Armesto, Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States (2013)
Read: Jim Newton: Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made (2006)