Abstract
May 17, 2004 marked the 50th anniversary of the most significant school segregation case: Brown v. Board of Education (1954). While the Brown decision eliminated the legal theory of “separate but equal,” the success of the Méndez et al. v. Westminster School District et al. (1946) case helped boost public sentiment against segregation, setting the stage for Brown. Méndez made possible the defeat of school segregation laws by revealing the detrimental effects and moral dangers of segregation; in California, it helped bring about the end of de jure school segregation. In this essay, I analyze the similarities of Méndez and Brown by comparing key legal strategies and rhetoric in each case. I also show that civil rights leaders of the time thought that Méndez had ramifications for black desegregation efforts, even if the basis for Chicano and black discrimination were not the same. Before examining the ties between the two, I discuss important historical works on Méndez written between 1976 and 2001 that this essay builds upon.
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