Man Behind the ScenesGonzalo Mendez, Jr.: Making Things Happen

The Museum of Teaching and Learning is fortunate to have had a long friendship and working relationship with a funny, generous, and skilled individual. His name is Gonzalo Mendez, Jr. Details from his family’s life story have been shared at many civic events and recorded in news articles, books for children and adults, and (at last) history textbooks for students in California high schools, colleges, and law schools.

Jefferson Elementary School

Santa Ana High School

Gonzalo Mendez, Jr. - Now

Gonzalo is the son of Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, who joined with four other families to bravely testify and fight school segregation through the pivotal court case, Mendez et al. v. Westminster School District, et al. Along with his older sister, Sylvia, and younger brother, Jerome, Gonzalo had been rejected by a “white” school in Westminster and sent to a segregated “Mexican” school in the early 1940s. The other plaintiff families had been subjected to similar rejections, despite pleas to their respective school boards.


The five families (Estrada, Guzman, Mendez, Palomino, Ramirez) worked with lawyer David Marcus in a class-action lawsuit to fight four of the Southern California school districts that had chosen to establish separate “Mexican” schools. The case was tried first in U.S. District Court, and then in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and its language declared segregation to be unequal and unconstitutional. It set precedents for the nation’s subsequent Brown v. Board of Education decision.

Gonzalo was the little boy who traveled into Los Angeles to spend long hours sitting patiently in the courtroom or roaming the hallways of prominent courthouses while the case was heard before Judge Paul J. McCormick. The plaintiffs won in 1946, the school districts appealed, and the families ultimately prevailed in 1947. Two months later, California became the first state to desegregate its schools.


After the court victory, Gonzalo began attending Westminster Elementary, integrating a “white” school. Then his family moved back to Santa Ana where he went to Jefferson Elementary. He recalls that, at first, the only classmates who reached out to him were Lionel Silver and Sandy Nalle, Jewish boys who may have experienced some rejection as well.

Westminster Elementary School first integrated class after the final decision was upheld in favor of the plaintiffs.  Gonzalo Mendez is seated in the front row, fifth from the left, next to the boy with suspenders.

In 2008, when The Museum of Teaching and Learning decided to focus its third exhibition on the story of school desegregation and Mendez v. Westminster, Gonzalo joined the Exhibit Committee planning group of 16 individuals who met for almost three years. The exhibition title ultimately became A Class Action: The Grassroots Struggle for School Desegregation in California. Gonzalo volunteered his skills as a master carpenter to design and construct the many panels required by the 2800 square-foot exhibition. In addition, he helped create an interactive, traveling listening station called Memories of Mexican Schools, a small exhibit that first opened at the L.A. Museum of Tolerance.

Working in a rented warehouse, Gonzalo labored with care, using sheets of plywood to make 26 rectangular boxes, 10 bottles of wood glue, 8 gallons of paint, and 2700 screws.

During the exhibition’s initial one-year run at the historic Old Orange County Courthouse, Gonzalo was generous with his time and knowledge, talking to visiting groups of schoolchildren about what times were like when he was a boy. He became quite the “rock star,” for students of all ages were thrilled to hear this historic figure speak and respond to their questions. That interaction with visitors continued as the exhibition traveled to various venues throughout California. Gonzalo was also a regular participant at galas, opening events, and exhibition-related lectures.

Gonzalo Mendez, Jr., and Kevin Cabrera

Gonzalo Mendez, Jr., and Kevin Cabrera
When MOTAL decided to alter A Class Action into more lightweight panels for easier travel, Gonzalo continued to help with installations at various venues. Later he agreed to serve as the carpenter for the next MOTAL exhibition, Two Roads, One Journey: Education in China and the U.S., that tells the comparative stories of two schoolchildren— Ping, in China, and Sam, in the United States. Gonzalo helped design the wooden exhibition structures that were done in a style reminiscent of both traditional Chinese exhibits and American blackboards.


As Gonzalo reflects on his past, he is grateful for the many friendships made with boys from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Now, over seventy years later, he still gathers to have lunch with those pals several times a year. He is also grateful for good teachers and counselors’ advice to “take a lot of math.” When he entered his building career, he became foreman on a regular basis because of his ability to read plans, understand the geometry of structures, and make precise calculations. Among the interesting projects he led during the career was the construction of Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA.


MOTAL is grateful to know Gonzalo and thrilled to have such a wonderful supporter.


NOTE: MOTAL's award-winning school desegregation exhibition is available for lease. It has traveled to sixteen host venues. For more details, and any questions may be directed to [email protected].


Recommended:
Strum, Philippa (2010). Mendez v. Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican American Rights. University Press of Kansas.