Welcome to our 35th #womanoftheweek! Today, we will be discussing Felicitas Mendez, a Latina Civil Rights Activist! Enjoy!
Felicitas Mendez was born Felicita Gómez Martínez on February 5, 1916, in the town of
Juncos, Puerto Rico. Her family moved to the American Southwest when Felicitas was a
preteen and they eventually joined the Latino community of agricultural workers in Orange
County, California. She moved with her parents to the American Southwest as a preteen,
and the family eventually joined the Latino community of agricultural workers in California’s
Orange County. In 1935, she married Gonzalo Mendez, a Mexican immigrant who worked
with her father in the fields. Together, the couple opened a neighborhood cafe and later
managed a successful farm in the small town of Westminster.
In 1944, a local public school refused to enroll the Mendez couple's three children based on
their ethnicity. But the Mendez family was unwilling to accept the injustice, so Felicitas and
Gonzalo fought back. Gonzalo Mendez and four other parents sued the Westminster school
district and several others with the Mendez v. Westminster lawsuit and demanded an end to
the segregation of Hispanic students. Then, on February 18, 1946, the federal district court
concluded that the school districts had violated the Mexican-American citizens' right to equal protection under the law, ruling in favor of the Mendez family and the other parents. The following year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, which paved the way for a law that called for the integration of all California public schools that year.
In 2011, Mendez's daughter Sylvia was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the
United States' highest civilian honor—in recognition of her and her parents' role in the
Westminster v. Mendez case and her lifelong dedication to civil rights and education that
followed. Sylvia Mendez told Google Doodle: "I am so proud to be the daughter of Felicitas
and Gonzalo Mendez and to have the opportunity to keep the promise I made to my mother.
I remember my mother saying to me, 'No one knows about Mendez vs Westminster, how five
families fought to end segregation in California. When we all decided to fight, it was not only
for you but for all the children.'
There's still a long way to go to achieve equal rights and provide the same opportunities to
everyone, but every step counts. As we keep pushing forward, we need to keep sharing
stories like these from history, to teach about perseverance, acceptance, and to celebrate
our differences. Thank you, Felicitas Mendez and family, for helping to lead the way toward a
more just future.
LINKS:
● https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-felicitas-mendez
● https://www.newsweek.com/who-felicitas-mendez-google-doodle-celebrates-civil-rights-pioneer-
1531881
● https://observer.com/2020/09/google-doodle-felicitas-mendez-school-segregation/
This is a Woman of the Week article, a weekly deep dive into an amazing women of color. For more incredible stories like this one, check out our article on Kamal Ranadive and Sarah Winnemuca! Make sure to follow us at@likeagirlglobalon Instagram for more updates and original content!
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