|
|
 |
|
Click Image to View Larger
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegragation
Duncan Tonatiuh
Item #:
9781419710544
Price:
$19.99
When her family moved to the town of Westminster, California,
young Sylvia Mendez was excited about enrolling in her
neighborhood school. But she and her brothers were turned away
and told they had to attend the Mexican school instead.
Sylvia could not understand why—she was an American citizen
who spoke perfect English. Why were the children of Mexican
families forced to attend a separate school?
Unable to get a satisfactory answer from the school board, the
Mendez family decided to take matters into its own hands and
organized a lawsuit. In the end, the Mendez family’s efforts
helped bring an end to segregated schooling in California in
1947, seven years before the landmark Supreme Court ruling in
Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in schools
across America.
Author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh writes in his notes,
“My hope is that this book will help children and young people
learn about this important yet little known event in American
history. I also hope that they will see themselves reflected
in Sylvia’s story and realize that their voices are valuable.”
Using his signature illustration style and incorporating his
interviews with Sylvia Mendez, as well as information from
court files and news accounts, Tonatiuh tells the inspiring
story of the Mendez family’s fight for justice and equality, a
fight that is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago.
Book, 40 pages.
|
|
|
|
)