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Mexican-American Equal Education

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The struggle for equal education has been an ongoing struggle in American society. On May 17th, 1945, Brown vs. Board of Education demolished the idea of segregation and sparked the African American Civil Rights movement. However, seven years before this court case, another one was being fought. Mendez vs. Westminster was taking place in Orange County, California, advocating for desegregation of Hispanic schools. Two years after the events that took place in Topeka, Kansas, the court ruled that forced segregation was unconstitutional. Since the case, education for Hispanics has been working towards complete equal rights. Education for Hispanics is a major part of the Chicano civil rights movement because of the way that integration happened …show more content…

Westminster decision came down in 1947, there were still states and cities that were working towards integrating every school. Houston, Texas, was one of these cities. Carlos Calbillo, a resident of Houston, remembers the integration process in the 1970s. Houston Independent School District decided that Mexican-Americans were going to be reclassified as White, in order to integrate African American and Mexican-Americans into the same schools. The district called this process integrating because the Mexican-Americans were classified as White, and the African Americans were classified as Black. The community, however, did not agree with this kind of thinking. They rose up and fought the district, and created strike schools. Strike schools were organized and run by Hispanic parents and community members. The schools were a place for students to learn without the fear of being discriminated. Some churches opened their doors for the community, often letting the strike schools use the basement. One specific church, a Baptist church, was welcoming to the Hispanic community and fed the children during the day, but everything was bare boned and extremely minimal. Eventually, people began to get even more frustrated with the integrated schools. Soon after the integration began, Race Riots began. Parents were attacking children of the opposite race, and parents were attacking parents because of their race. The integration, strike schools, and race riots go to show that the way that segregation was ended may have not been the best way to do it, but it was a start for the process. Through this, the people involved were able to make things work for them and find the best way to educate their children during this tough

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