The Unheralded History of the Lemon Grove Desegregation Case

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    • Availability:
      Caddo Gap Press. 3145 Geary Blvd, PMB 275, San Francisco, CA 94118. Tel: 415-666-3012; Fax: 415-666-3552; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.caddogap.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      5
    • Education Level:
      Elementary Secondary Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Civil Rights; School Desegregation; Court Litigation; Principals; Mexicans; Mexican Americans; School Segregation; Public Schools; Social Justice; History Instruction
    • Subject Terms:
      California
    • ISSN:
      1068-3844
    • Abstract:
      In 1931, the Southern California community of Lemon Grove served as the unlikely stage for a dramatic and significant civil rights court case. A group of Mexican and Mexican-American parents and their children won a major victory in the battle against school segregation and the notion of separate but equal facilities. The case, now commonly referred to as the Lemon Grove Incident, was the nation's first recognized court-ordered school desegregation case. The Lemon Grove parents' efforts and legal struggles involved more than 70 children of Mexican descent who were summarily directed by their school principal to attend a hastily constructed, two-room segregated school, the "caballeriza," the barn, which was situated in the "Mexican side of town." The Lemon Grove case is not well known and one could surmise that its most distinguishing characteristic is its obscurity. Similar to the post World War II landmark "Mendez v. Westminster" case, the Lemon Grove matter could be deemed an item of "neglected" history not only because of the public's ignorance of it, but also because of its absence from the public school curriculum. As with "Lemon Grove" and "Mendez," many important historical events pertaining to the Mexican-American experience are not taught in the public schools. Moreover, the Lemon Grove case, albeit an item of unheralded history that has yet to be incorporated into the school curriculum, is a momentous and symbolic historical civil rights event that is one of countless and unique historical, political, and sociological elements that constitute the Mexican-American experience.
    • Abstract:
      ERIC
    • Number of References:
      8
    • Publication Date:
      2008
    • Accession Number:
      EJ793848