History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
O.C. civil rights icon Mendez awarded Medal of Freedom
- 02-16-2011
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By Fermin Leal/The Orange County Register
Sylvia Mendez smiled through tears Tuesday as President Barack Obama draped the Medal of Freedom around her neck, overcome as she remembered the desegregation fight her parents waged on her behalf. “I never could have imagined as a child battling segregation that I would end up one day meeting the president and receiving such a tremendous honor,” said Mendez, 74, of Fullerton. "My parents just wanted what was best for their children. So I have made it my life’s work to spread their message." Mendez was just 8 years old when her parents, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, sued Westminster School District for turning their children away from an all-white school. The children were sent instead to the “Mexican” school, a two-room wooden shack with worn, wobbly desks and chairs, and tattered textbooks – hand-me-downs from other campuses. In 1947, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in deciding the case, ordered an end to segregation in California schools. (more...)
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