Before Brown v. Board of Education

Feb. 18, 2005 -- -- When Sylvia Mendez was 9 years old in Orange County, Calif., she went to Hoover Elementary School. She wanted to go to the Westminster School 10 blocks away, but she wasn't allowed for one reason -- she is Hispanic.

Under California's segregated system, Mendez, the daughter of Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrants, could not go to Westminster or any others that Sylvia and her friends referred to as "Anglo" schools.

On Feb. 18, 1946 -- 60 years ago today -- the decision of Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County changed that.

Sylvia's father, Gonzalo Mendez, and other Latino parents filed a class-action suit against the school districts of Westminster, Garden Grove and El Modeno on behalf of their children.

The court ordered an injunction that stopped the schools from requiring Mexican- and Latin-American students to attend separate schools from white children.

The district's policy before that ruling was to segregate on the basis of whether children spoke English or not. However, the court found that when the policy was enforced depended largely, if not entirely, on race.

The tests administered were "hasty, superficial, and not reliable," the court said, and in some cases "separate classification was determined ... by the ... name of the child."

Mendez herself is a living example of that point. She has spoken perfect English all her life but was still barred from going to white schools.

The Mendez ruling found that even though the schools might be equal in their given quality of resources and facilities, segregation itself was unacceptable.

The mere fact that public school students of Mexican and Latin heritage were required to attend one specified school while other children were permitted to attend two other schools in the district "clearly establishes an unfair and arbitrary class distinction in the system of public education."

Harbinger in More Than One Way

Latin-American leaders point out parallels between the Mendez case and Brown v. Board of Education, which ended legalized school segregation for African-Americans.

Like Brown, which was decided nine years later, the Mendez ruling found that the policy of having "separate, but equal" schools was not justified. When the school district appealed, one brief filed in support of Mendez was written by Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP lawyer famous for arguing Brown v. Board of Education.

Coincidentally, the governor of California at the time of Mendez was Earl Warren, who would become chief justice of the Supreme Court and write its decision on Brown.

While Mendez v. Westminster may not be as well-known as other landmarks in the history of American civil rights, commemoration events are planned throughout the year and around the country to mark its 60th birthday. In Tennessee -- far from the Orange County courthouse -- the State House of Representatives passed a proclamation commemorating the anniversary.

State Rep. Brian Kelsey, who is participating in racial reconciliation events in Memphis says the Mendez case has an important lesson to teach other states today.

Kelsey told ABC News: "In Tennessee, we are just now gaining the Latino population that California and other border states achieved 50 or 60 years ago, so it's important for our students to understand the history of the civil rights struggles that Latinos faced."

He added, "The Mendez case highlights the commonality of the civil rights struggles of Latinos and African-Americans. I'm hopeful this event will ... move this city forward in its race relations."

Distances to Cover

Latin-American leaders also recognize those parallels, while emphasizing the Mendez ruling's unique significance in history. Lisa Navarrete, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, says "it's something most of our fellow Americans don't know ... that the precursor of Brown v. Board of Education dealt with Mexican-American kids. It shows that our roots run long and deep in this country and that we have our own history of segregation."

Mendez remembers well the days before the ruling. "We couldn't enter the public park. We couldn't go to the public municipal swimming pools until Sundays. Mendez says, "They told us were allowed to go on Sundays because on Mondays, they changed the pool water."

Sixty years later, she is in retirement after 33 years as a registered nurse. Whether her choice of elementary school would have had the same effect on her career is anyone's guess.

Mendez is certain of one thing, however. "We have a long, long way to go," she said.