Reinscribing History: Mendez et al. v. Westminster et al. from the Standpoint of Mexican Origin Women

The main plaintiffs named in Mendez et al. v. Westminster School District et al. were Gonzalo Mendez, William Guzman, Lorenzo Ramirez, Frank Palomino, Tomas Estrada, and their children. As the children's fathers and "next of friend,"¹ these men were identified as the children's legal guardians and therefore named lead plaintiffs in the Mendez case by the court, legal counsel, and the plaintiffs themselves. Not readily identified in the Mendez case, or sub-sequential writings about it, however, were the children's mothers: Felicitas Mendez, Virginia Guzman, Josefina Ramirez, Irene Palomino, and Maria Luisa Estrada.

The absence of these women and others from official accounts surrounding the case comes as no surprise. At a time in history when "a woman's place was in the home" and men were regarded as head of the house, the male centeredness of the Mendez case could be attributed to a patriarchal legal system, perceptions of women within the Mexican culture and the greater society, and/ or the manner in which history is traditionally constructed and told. But the erasing of these women from historical memory in no way diminishes their significance to the case or the overall battle for desegregation. Regardless of these women's "official" status, they and others made important contributions to the Mendez case and the battle for racial equality.

The intention of this paper is to reclaim a history long ignored. It seeks to tell the story of Mendez v. Westminster from the standpoint of Mexican origin women,² as told and remembered by those who lived it. Important to this telling of the Mendez case is an understanding of the methods and theories used to identify the many women involved in desegregation efforts and the manner in which gender intersected with race to inform their agency.

Approaching an Alternative Telling of the Mendez Case

At the cornerstone of this study stand the testimonies of those involved in grassroots efforts to desegregate the schools. In addition to interviewing key plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, including representatives of the five leading families (Mendez, Guzman, Palomino, Ramirez, and Estrada), I also interviewed former students of the Mexican schools and a host of community members. I identified these participants in part from the legal documents, most notably the court transcripts. More significant to this study and my efforts to determine the contributions of Mexican origin women to the case, however, is an investigation into the knowledge and experiences of participants not readily identified in the legal documents. These participants were largely identified by other participants involved in this study. For the purposes of this investigation, I make a distinction between those whose actions were officially recorded and those whose actions were not. Because most accounts of the Mendez case rely largely on court records, they tend to offer a limited perspective of the people and events surrounding it. In contrast, a study of those who participated but had little, if any, involvement in the legal proceedings provided a window for new information to emerge. I created this window through my familial ties to the Mendez case.

As long-time residents of the Westminster community, the name Bermudez is well rooted in its history. Many attended the Mexican schools in question and actively engaged in desegregation efforts. Evidence of this is located in the stories shared by research participants and the pages of documents making up the Mendez case. For example, the signatures of several of my relatives, including my grandparents, appeared on the petition that was circulated among residents in the Mexican American community and later forwarded to the Westminster School District [Figure 1].

Documents such as this helped to shape my understanding of the Mendez case. In a preliminary study I conducted, I interviewed several families whose signatures appeared on this petition but, subsequently, was unable to locate their names in the legal documents. This raised my curiosity about the grassroots efforts of those involved and the events that would ultimately amount to a class action lawsuit. Moreover, I realized that, as a Bermudez, my family surname...