The Fight to Go to School

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question: Why is rule of law important for a democracy?

2. List Vocabulary
Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article (see right). Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• determined (p. 19)
• inferior (p. 19)
• envisioned (p. 20)
• paramount (p. 20)
• undermined (p. 21)
• rigorous (p. 21)

3. Engage
Have students preview the photo on page 20 of the article of President Barack Obama giving Sylvia Mendez the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ask students to share predictions about why Mendez was awarded this honor. 

4. Read and Discuss
Ask students to read the Upfront article about Sylvia Mendez. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by someone who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions:

• In the first section, the author explains that Aunt Soledad attempted to enroll Sylvia and her brothers in Westminster Main School. What happened? (An official at the school said that Aunt Soledad’s daughters could enroll because they were light-skinned. But Sylvia and her brothers, who were dark-skinned, could not enroll and instead had to go to the “Mexican school.” Aunt Soledad refused to enroll any of the children. Sylvia’s father along with other parents, filed a lawsuit against the school.)  

• In the same section, the author says, “The children never expected their visit to help set in motion a series of events that would change education in America forever.” What events does this line foreshadow? (This line foreshadows the lawsuit their father filed with other parents that led to the end of segregated schools in California and set the legal precedent for the 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which banned racial segregation in all schools in the U.S.)

• What strategies did lawyer David Marcus use to make his case that the school had violated the students’ rights protected by the 14th Amendment? (He used skillful questioning to get school officials to admit that they segregated students for reasons related to bias and not education. He also called experts to the stand to explain how segregation creates an inherently unequal outcome.)

• What reasons did Judge Paul McCormick give for his ruling in the Mendez case? (Judge McCormick said that by segregating Mexican American children, the school districts had violated the students’ rights to equal protection of the law under the 14th Amendment. He also said that social equality is a paramount requisite in public education and that schools must be open to all children.)

5. Use the Primary Sources
Project, distribute, or assign in Google Classroom the PDF ‘You Are Just as Equal,’ which features an excerpt from an oral history by Sylvia Mendez about what it meant to her and her family to win their lawsuit and desegregate schools in California. Discuss what makes the oral history a primary source. (It provides firsthand evidence concerning the topic.) Have students read the excerpt and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• How would you describe the tone and purpose of this excerpt from Mendez’s oral history? (The tone can be described as reflective and straightforward. Mendez’s purpose is to explain why her parents fought to desegregate her school district and how their win affected her.)

• What does Mendez contrast in the first two paragraphs? Why do you think she includes this contrast? (Mendez contrasts the white school, which was beautiful and well manicured, with the Mexican school, which did not teach academics and instead focused on training the students to be maids. She likely begins this way to clearly set up why her parents fought to desegregate her school district as well as to emphasize why the lesson she later learned about what her parents were fighting for was so meaningful to her.)

• Which details in the excerpt allow you to infer that Mendez’s parents won their lawsuit? (One detail that allows you to infer this is that Mendez says the ruling had a “ripple effect all over Southern California,” including theaters eventually being integrated. Losing the lawsuit wouldn’t have led to theaters being integrated. Also, Mendez talks about finally going to “that school”—the white school—so we know they won.) 

• During the trial, what did Mendez think her parents were fighting for? What did she later learn they were actually fighting for? (During the trial, Mendez thought her parents were fighting so she could go to a beautiful school. But after coming home in tears after a classmate told her she didn’t belong in the school because she was Mexican, her mother helped her realize what they actually had been fighting for—to make sure Mendez and other children knew that were entitled to equal rights.)

• In the Upfront article, Mendez talks about persevering in the fight for equality. Based on the article and the excerpt from her oral history, in what ways did Mendez and her family persevere? (Responses will vary but ideas should be supported with evidence from both texts.)

6. Writing Prompt
Consider the concept of rule of law. How was rule of law in action during Judge McCormick’s 1946 ruling in the Mendez case and the appellate court’s upholding of the ruling? Explain in a brief essay

7. Quiz
Use the quiz to assess comprehension.

8. Classroom Debate
Are schools today truly desegregated? (Refer to your research notes for Organizing Ideas to support your points.) 

9. Research Briefs
Have students research Aki Munemitsu and her connection to Sylvia Mendez. Then ask students to share one fact or idea that surprised them or most interested them from their research.