Sylvia Mendez, left, Sandra Duran Mendez, center, and Gonzalo Mendez Jr., right, are pictured with a photo of their parents Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez of Mendez vs. Westminster fame. The Mendez children were denied entrance into a “white school” in Westminster. Her father spent all the money he had to fight back in court in Sylvia Mendez’ behalf. The case lead to a landmark ruling that segregated schools, including those in Orange County, violated the 14th amendment. California became the first school in the nation to end school segregation and Sylvia Mendez entered school in 1944 at age 8. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Sandra Robbie, left, who produced an Emmy winning documentary about segregation in Orange County, “Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children,” greets Genevieve Southgate at the 70th anniversary celebration of the case in Orange on Saturday, October 14, 2017. Southgate’s dad, Cruz G. Barrios, owned Barrios Market on 5th and Harbor where he organized meetings for the plaintiffs in the case. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The Mendez v Westminster postage stamp was revealed at Chapman University in this photo from 2007. From left, Mistala and Sylvia Mendez, and Gerard Ahern of the US Postal Service. Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register

Sandra Robbie congratulates Santino Coscarella after he tells her he knows about the Mendez v. Westminster case desegregating California schools. They were at the 70th anniversary of the case in Orange on Saturday, October 14, 2017.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

History buff David Andrews keeps a detailed scrapbook on the historic Mendez v. Westminster case that desegregated Orange County schools for Mexican Americans. He was at the 70th anniversary celebration of the case in Orange on Saturday, October 14, 2017.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)



The city of Westminster moved one step closer to honoring its place in the history of school desegregation when the city council voted recently to approve the start of work on creating a small park to serve as the location for a monument to the landmark Mendez et al v. Westminster court case.

That 1947 case led to the end of segregating Mexican American children in California schools, and preceded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. the Board of Education that ordered the end to school segregation nationwide.

But while the Mendez case is recognized in law and culture as a huge step forward for civil rights – it’s been honored with a U.S. Postal Service stamp, told in an Emmy-winning documentary film, and Sylvia Mendez, the daughter of the lead plaintiffs, honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 – there’s not been any permanent commemoration of it in Westminster until recently.

In November, the city of Westminster announced that a new bike path will be named in honor of the lawsuit. The Mendez Historic Freedom Trail will be a two-way dedicated bikeway along Hoover Street.

And at the March 28 council meeting, the city voted to go forward with the development of a park and monument as another way to celebrate the role of the city and its residents in breaking down barriers some seven decades ago.

“This case determined that no matter what color your skin is you can receive a quality education,” said Sylvia Mendez, whose father, Gonzalo Mendez, launched the lawsuit when she and her siblings were denied enrollment at a Westminster school that only served white children.

“My father fought hard for my rights to go to a good school and he would be so proud to know that Westminster City Council is fighting to preserve his legacy,” she said.

Mayor Tri Ta thanked her for speaking, saying, “Your family had been fighting for equal rights. This city, we have a responsibility to keep that legacy.”

A pocket park will be built on the northeast corner of Westminster Boulevard and Olive Street on a small, unused piece of city property opposite an Orange County Fire Authority station.

“While the site’s limited size would preclude any meaningful commercial development, the planned pocket park would significantly improve the overall aesthetics of the area, as well as provide a natural setting for the monument,” a city report concluded. “As evident by the community participation at previous Council meetings, the community has responded positively to the Council direction on this item and has already started to raise funds in order to fund the monuments portion of the park.”

As that last comment suggests, the city is only funding the development of the park, which will cost about $160,000 of park funds generated by development fees.

A community group has pledged to raise the money necessary for a monument, and has hired artist Ignacio Gomez, who created a Cesar Chavez monument in Riverside, to design and create the Mendez monument.

The location is one block west of Hoover Street, which means it’s in relatively close proximity to the Mendez Historic Freedom Trail site, which is slated for Hoover between Bolsa Avenue and Garden Grove Boulevard.

And both of these projects make sense historically, too. Hoover Elementary School was located near this part of Hoover Street, and it was the Mexican-only school that the Mendez children were assigned when their parents tried to enroll them in the Main Street School, only to discover that the district only allowed white children to attend that school.

If you’ve got any burning questions, comments, story ideas you’d like Brainiac to check out in Westminster, Garden Grove, Stanton or Midway City, send us an email at plarsen@scng.com or a phone call at 714-796-7787.