Ep. 01 | Mendez v. Westminster

The Deeper Learning Podcast

Hosted by Jeff Hittenberger, chief academic officer for the Orange County Department of Education, the first episode of the Deeper Learning Podcast centers on a profoundly significant court case that’s probably unfamiliar to most Americans. Mendez v. Westminster shattered many of the legal justifications for segregating public schools and laid the foundation for the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision. And it all started with one family from Orange County, Calif.

Produced by the Orange County Department of Education

Ep. 01 Transcript

Resources:

Bernstein, S. (2011). Bridges of Reform: Interracial Civil Rights Activism in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Strum, P. (2010). Mendez v Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.

Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation. New York: Abrams.

Wenkart, R. D. (2016). Mendez v. Westminster School District. Inquiry and Analysis, December 2016.

Mendez v. Westminster painting (image) was commissioned by Justice Eileen Moore for the California Court of Appeals, Fourth District. It was created by students from the Orange County Department of Education’s Alternative, Community, and Correctional Schools and Services (ACCESS), Otto A. Fischer School. Teachers: Ruth Rosen and Sam Lightbody. Student artists: Andrew K., Kaylee F., Jose C., Abraham V., Stacy Lynn R., and Juan G.