Mendez vs. segregation: Challenging inequality in O.C.

Sylvia Mendez at her home in Fullerton. Mendez’s father, Gonzalo, was at the center of Mendez vs. Westminster, which desegregated California schools years before the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education.  (Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot)

Sylvia Mendez, the daughter of Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, recalls her parents’ pursuit of Mendez vs. Westminster, which desegregated California schools years before the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education.

Sylvia Mendez, whose 1946 court case challenged segregation in local schools and inspired a student’s painting behind her, views students’ history-inspired paintings at the Orange County Court of Appeals lobby in 2009 in Santa Ana.