A Class Action—Traveling Exhibition
A Class Action: The Grassroots Struggle for School Desegregation in California
This traveling exhibition is based on the exhibition for which MOTAL was awarded an Award of Merit by the prestigious American Association for State and Local History, installed at the Old Orange County Courthouse from September 2011 to June 2012. There, groups of school children, parents, teachers, college students, and many other individuals traveled to the heart of Santa Ana, California, to experience this exhibition about the court case that led to the desegregation of schools in California, the first state to do so. Visitor comments always included the exclamation, “I never knew this happened right here in Southern California!”
Background
In March 1945, five fathers in Orange County, California, brought a class-action lawsuit against four school districts on behalf of their own children and 5,000 other children that were being forced to attend segregated “Mexican schools.”
This exhibition tells the story of their landmark lawsuit, Mendez et al. v. Westminster School District et al., and reveals how community organizing and grassroots activism can produce positive change in schools and communities across the United States. Experts have called this the most important court case about segregation before Brown v. Board of Education. Read about the case.
Exhibition highlights
The interactive exhibition provides a physical space where visitors can explore the case, its origins, and how its legacy inspired others to go on to make a difference.
Appropriate for
Learn more
To receive a gift copy of the film Mendez v. Westminster: Families for Equality by Erica Bennett with a small donation, contact the Fullerton College Foundation at 714-992-7790 or info@foundationfc.com.
For more information about the exhibition or how to lease the exhibition, please contact us.
This traveling exhibition is based on the exhibition for which MOTAL was awarded an Award of Merit by the prestigious American Association for State and Local History, installed at the Old Orange County Courthouse from September 2011 to June 2012. There, groups of school children, parents, teachers, college students, and many other individuals traveled to the heart of Santa Ana, California, to experience this exhibition about the court case that led to the desegregation of schools in California, the first state to do so. Visitor comments always included the exclamation, “I never knew this happened right here in Southern California!”
Background
In March 1945, five fathers in Orange County, California, brought a class-action lawsuit against four school districts on behalf of their own children and 5,000 other children that were being forced to attend segregated “Mexican schools.”
This exhibition tells the story of their landmark lawsuit, Mendez et al. v. Westminster School District et al., and reveals how community organizing and grassroots activism can produce positive change in schools and communities across the United States. Experts have called this the most important court case about segregation before Brown v. Board of Education. Read about the case.
Exhibition highlights
The interactive exhibition provides a physical space where visitors can explore the case, its origins, and how its legacy inspired others to go on to make a difference.
- Photographs and items from all plaintiff families
- Interactive elements and oral histories from people with firsthand experience of segregated schools
- Space for community dialogue and civic engagement
- A varied event series
- Docent-led field trips for students
Appropriate for
- Elementary school students and teachers (especially 4th graders studying California history)
- High school students and teachers (especially 11th graders studying American history)
- Adult learners
Learn more
- The case
- Exhibition design
- Exhibition layout
- Manuscript and photographs
- Artifacts
- Recordings and documentary
- Adjunct exhibition: Memories of Mexican Schools listening station
- Docent support
- Classroom materials
- Suggested events
- Marketing materials
- Venues
- What People Are Saying
- Acknowledgements
To receive a gift copy of the film Mendez v. Westminster: Families for Equality by Erica Bennett with a small donation, contact the Fullerton College Foundation at 714-992-7790 or info@foundationfc.com.
For more information about the exhibition or how to lease the exhibition, please contact us.