Just the Facts
The California county where the plaintiffs, including three children in the Mendez family, attended school.
What is Orange County?
This court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on the basis that the social, psychological, and pedagogical costs of segregated education were damaging to Mexican American students.
What is the U.S. District Court?
He wrote, "A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality," in his U.S. District Court Decision.
Who is Paul J. McCormick?
The profession of Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, who were joined by four other families in the class action lawsuit that carried their family name.
What is farmer?
U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick ordered the school districts to cease their "discriminatory practices against the pupils" of this descent in the public schools.
What is Mexican descent?
Mendez v. Westminster laid the groundwork for this landmark case that was ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.
What is Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka?
The families did not claim racial discrimination, as Mexicans were considered legally white, but rather discrimination based on ancestry and this.
What is language deficiency?
When the school districts appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, he wrote the amicus brief filed by the NAACP in favor of the plaintiffs.
Who was Thurgood Marshall?
Two months after the ruling in Mendez v. Westminster, this state's governor signed a bill ending school segregation, making it the first state to officially desegregate its public schools.
What is California?