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  • Beverly Guzman Gallegos's Testimonio
  • Valerie M. Mendoza (bio)

This article is the testimonio of Beverly Guzman Gallegos, whose family was one of the named plaintiffs in the Mendez v. Westminster case that led to the desegregation of Mexican children in the California schools. Although the Mendez story has been well documented, the contributions of the other named plaintiffs—the Guzman, Ramírez, Palomino, and Estrada families—have yet to be heard. The following testimonio provides a fuller picture of the discrimination pervasive at the time and the heroism of the Guzmans and other Mexican American families of the day. While Gallegos gives a brief testimonio, much can be drawn from it. She reveals the importance of women in the fight against educational segregation, parental agency and resistance, and the pivotal role of community organizing. We also garner similarities between her family's story and that of the other plaintiffs, which restores the parallel version of events to the narrative rather than keeping it focused on one family's story. The testimonio also allows us to consider whose stories we tell and whose are left out; it leads us to ask how our understanding of the case differs once we hear the Guzman story and that of the other plaintiffs.

In June of 2016, I was contacted by Beverly Guzman Gallegos about her family's involvement with the Mendez v. Westminster (1947) case. For several years she spoke at local events, but she wanted a wider venue for her story. A friend told her about the special issue of American Studies that I was coediting with Norma E. Cantú and gave her my contact information. We discussed having [End Page 53] her write her story, my being a coauthor on an article with her, my writing an interview with her, but we ultimately settled on the testimonio format. We wanted to preserve her voice and give an accounting of her family's history of discrimination in the Orange County schools. Her brother, Billy (who is deceased), was a minor plaintiff in the case brought forth by her father William Guzman. Her family's story remains untold until now.

The following testimonio gives a fuller picture of the discrimination pervasive at the time and the heroism of the Guzmans and other Mexican American families of the day. The testimonio also makes us consider whose stories we tell and whose are left out; it leads us to ask, how does our understanding of the case differ once we hear the Guzman story and that of the other plaintiffs? For example, Gallegos's testimonio reveals strategies of resistance used by her family to combat segregation.1 What follows is her testimony of events leading up to and following the historic court case that desegregated schools in California. Prior to telling her story, I provide historical background on the case, including treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans prior to 1950 in Southern California.

Mendez v. Westminster received little attention, even within law circles, and was all but forgotten for decades. Not until 1998, when Santa Ana school district named its new middle school after Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, did this little-known piece of history resurface. Yet, when the case finally received widespread attention, scholars chronicled it exclusively through the eyes of the namesake Mendez family and minor plaintiff Sylvia Mendez and virtually erased the community-wide effort to combat segregation in the schools—particularly those efforts of the other named plaintiffs. An award-winning 2002 documentary, Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children, produced by Sandra Robbie; the leading law book on the case written in 2010 by Philippa Strum; and a children's picture book by Duncan Tonatiuh published in 2014 all center on the story of the Mendez family or Sylvia Mendez and barely mention the other named plaintiffs.2 The index to Strum's book lists one reference to plaintiff Thomas Estrada, two for Lorenzo Ramirez, four for Frank Palomino, and four for William Guzman. No references are made to the wives or children of these plaintiffs. By contrast, Strumm's index cites thirty pages referring to Gonzalo Mendez, nineteen to his wife Felícitas, eight to his daughter Sylvia...

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