On Sept. 20, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1805 into law, requiring the historic 1947 school segregation case of Mendez, et al. v. Westminster School District of Orange County to be integrated into California’s history and social science curriculum by Dec. 31, 2028.
The bill was co-authored by two Orange County lawmakers: Assemblyman Tri Ta (R-Westminster) and Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana). They intend to highlight the case’s importance and impact on civil rights, which is said by the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers to have paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, outlawing school segregation nationwide.
After Gonzalo Mendez’s children were barred from enrolling in a 17th Street School in Westminster and instead directed to Hoover Elementary School, specifically for Mexican Americans, Gonzalo Mendez filed a lawsuit against Westminster’s 17th Street School with five other Mexican American fathers, representing 5,000 Mexican pupils. Its ruling that “separate but equal” schools for Mexican American students were unconstitutional eventually led to a state bill repealing codes allowing school segregation, establishing California as the first state to do so. The ruling would later be used as precedent in Texas and Arizona district courts, as well as the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
“[Mendez] represents the beginning of the end of legal school segregation and signifies the important role of California in the civil rights movement,” Newsom said.
Sylvia Mendez, Gonzalo Mendez’s daughter who was also represented in the case, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the accomplishment of AB 1805’s passage as a recognition of her family’s and the Latino community’s story.
“I’m so happy that the governor signed the bill,” Sylvia Mendez said. “The Mendez family has been working for this for over 20 years. It’s been a long struggle for everybody who has helped, and we’ve finally completed our task.”
With Umberg and Ta’s collaboration, the bipartisan effort secured support from both political parties, as well as organizations such as the California Federation of Teachers and Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, it is not their first initiative to shed light on the case; as Westminster mayor in 2017, Ta voted to create the Mendez Freedom Trail and Monument — which Umberg helped secure funding for — to honor the Mendez family’s story.
“[Passing AB 1805] does demonstrate that we’ve come to a place where we share values,” Umberg said to the Los Angeles Times. “I’m proud of the fact that we’ve done this in a bipartisan and bicameral way.”
Ta and Umberg believe the case’s significance to both Orange County and American culture and rights should be taught and preserved in California history through education.
“Future generations will learn about the case and understand that this is America where we will stand up for civil rights,” Ta said. “Students will benefit from that.”
