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Mendez v. Westminster School Dist. of Orange County (64 F.Supp. 544 [S.D. Cal 1946], judgment affirmed by Westminster School Dist. of Orange County v. Mendez (161 F.2d 774 [9th Cir. 1947])
(WESTLAW © 2021 Thomson Reuters, reprinted with permission)


Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 [1954])
(WESTLAW © 2021 Thomson Reuters, reprinted with permission)


Frederick P. Aguirre, Kristi L. Bowman, Gonzalo Mendez, Sylvia Mendez, Sandra Robbie, and Philippa Strum, Mendez v. Westminster: A Living History, 2014 Mich. St. L. Rev. 401 (2014) (Reprinted with Permission)


Robert R. Alvarez, Jr., The Lemon Grove Incident: The Nation's First Successful Desegregation Court Case, Journal of San Diego History, San Diego Historical Society Quarterly, Spring 1986, Volume 32, Number 2 (Reprinted with Permission)


Maria Blanco, The Lasting Impact of Mendez v. Westminster in the Struggle for Desegregation, American Immigration Council, Special Report (March 25, 2010)


Ruben Donato, Gonzalo Guzmán & Jarrod Hanson (2017), Francisco Maestas et al. v. George H. Shone et al.: Mexican American Resistance to School Segregation in the Hispano Homeland, 1912–1914, Journal of Latinos and Education, 16:1, 3-17, DOI: 10.1080/15348431.2016.1179190

Ferg-Cadima, James A., Black, White, and Brown: Latino School Desegregation Efforts in the Pre- and Post-Brown v. Board of Education Era, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, May 2004


Neil Foley, Over the Rainbow: Hernandez v. Texas, Brown v. Board of Education, and Black v. Brown, Chicana/o Latina/o Law Review, Volume 25, Issue 1, 139, 140 (2005)


Tyche Hendricks, An Early Blow for Equality/For All Children: A Family's Fight 60 Years Ago Against a California School That Turned Way Their Kids Because They Were Mexican Helped End Segregation in Public Education, San Francisco Chronicle, at page A-1, May 9, 2007


Jennifer McCormick & César J. Ayala, Felicita “La Prieta” Méndez (1916-1998) and the end of Latino School Segregation in California, Centro Journal, 2007, XIX (2), https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37719202 [last accessed on February 11, 2023]


Carlos R. Moreno, Méndez v. Westminster and School Desegregation, 14 CAL. LEGAL Hist.93 (2019)


Toni Robinson & Greg Robinson, Méndez v. Westminster: Asian-Latino Coalition Triumphant, 10 Asian L.J. 161 (2003)

Additional Resources

Christopher Arriola, Knocking on School House Doors: Mendez v. Westminster, Equal Protection, Public Education and Mexican Americans in the 1940s, 8 Berkeley La Raza L.J. 166 (1995) (Reprinted with Permission)


Thomas A. Saenz, Mendez and the Legacy of Brown: A Latino Civil Rights Lawyer’s Assessment, 15 Berkeley La Raza L.J. 67 (2004) (Reprinted with Permission)
• This article is also available at 19 Berkeley Women's L.J. 395 (2004).


Martha Tennent, Maruxa Relaño, Desegregation Bus, New York Daily News, June 6, 2007


Winifred Conkling, Sylvia & Aki, Penguin Random House: ISBN = 978-1-58246-337-7 (hardcover) (2011)

Alvarez v. Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School Dist. (Civil Action No.66625 [Superior Court, San Diego County, Cal. 1931] [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_Grove_Incident])


Frederick P. Aguirre, Mendez v. Westminster School District: How It Affected Brown v. Board of Education, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, Vol. 4, No. 4, 321-332 (2005)