CELEBRATION HONORING FELICITAS MENDEZ, VIRGINIA GUZMAN, IRENE PALOMINO, MARY LUISA ESTRADA AND JOSEFINA RAMIREZ, PLAINTIFFS IN MENDEZ, et alv. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al
Thursday, October 30, 2025
5:00 – 7:00 PM
Hosted by the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association and the
Orange County Department of Education
OCDE Conference Center
200 Kalmus Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92628
We invite you tojoin us in recognizing the fivevisionary Mexican American women who in 1945 filed the historicclass action case of Mendez, et al v. Westminster School District, et al, 64 F. Supp. 544.The intrepidfemale Plaintiffs areFelicitas Mendez, Virginia Guzman, Irene Palomino, Mary LuisaEstrada and Josefina Ramirez.The five mothers sued on behalf of their children and 5,000 other children maintaining that the arbitrary segregation of Mexican American children into separate schools in Westminster, Santa Ana, Garden Grove and El Modena (Orange), violated the !4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution therefore the practice should be enjoined.
In 1945, California law mandated segregated, separatepublic schools for Asian American and Native American children. Local school districtswere allowed to segregate Mexican American and African American children into separateschools.
The testimony of the Plaintiffs and the attestation of seven other courageous Latina women lead U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick to conclude thatall children should be allowed to enroll in their neighborhood school and not be separated solely on ethnicity or race. He stated: “The equal protection of the laws’ pertaining to the public school system in California is not provided by furnishing in separate schools the same technical facilities, textbooks and courses of instruction to children of Mexican ancestry that are available to the other public school children regardless of their ancestry. A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school association regardless of lineage.”
As a result, in 1947, equal and integrated public education in California wasopenedtoall children - Mexican American, African American, Asian American and Native American students. This case was the foundation for the 1954 U.S. Supreme court decision of Brown v. Board of Educationwhich opened public education for children nationally.
A30-minute reenactment of the trial will be presentedplus brief legal and historical commentary and presentation of the awards.
The event will be open to the public and will be free. A reception will follow the program.
Please RSVP to https://ochba.org/event-6343799
CONCEPT STATEMENT
Each year, the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association hosts the Judge Frances Munoz Award ceremony to recognize an exceptional Latina attorney or judge. The event is held in commemoration of our nation’s first Latina trial court judge who was appointed to the bench in 1978 and served on our Superior Court here in Orange County for over 38 years. Last year, we recognized MC Sungaila, one of the premier appellate lawyers in the nation, who has appeared in over 170 federal and state appellate court cases, including several before the U.S. Supreme Court. This year, the Orange County Department of Education is co-hosting the event to honor the five Latinas who filed Mendez, et al v. Westminster School District, et al.
Attached is the copy of the Summons of the Complaint. Please note that the official title is very lengthy, it takes up about a half of a page. Please note that the mother’s names are not listed as plaintiffs. But they are plaintiffs. Generally, only one parent is listed as the Guardian of minor children and here the father was named. For purposes of citation, the court shortens the title to just one plaintiff and one defendant. The words “et al” are Latin for “and others”.
The trial transcript of the five-day trial includes over 1,000 pages of testimony from 24 witnesses, arguments of counsel and ruling of the court. Plaintiffs Felicitas Mendez and Virginia Guzman testified, as did seven other Latinas: Manuela Ochoa, Jane Sianez, Felicitas Fuentes, Mabel Mendez, 14-year-oldCarol Torres, Nieves Pena and Isabel Ayala. Their testimony alone is over 130 pages and takes about 3 hours to present. We will shorten the testimony of five key witnesses, including Felicitas Mendez and Virginia Guzman, to fit into the thirty-minute session. A relative of each of the women will be asked to memorize the lines from the actual trial transcript and perform the role of the witness. Hon. Frederick P. Aguirre (Ret.) will portray Judge Paul J. McCormick; Appellate Court Justice Thomas Delaney will play plaintiffs’ attorney David C. Marcus and attorney Doug Weeks will act as defense attorney George F. Holden. The attorneys will ask the questions and the witnesses will answer exactly as is recorded in the trial transcript. There will be no spin or summations, just the actual trial testimony from each of the key witnesses and the judge’s ruling.
This innovative and accurate program will provide a dignified and merited recognition of the courageous women who filed and testified in Mendez, et al v. Westminster School District, et al and of the historical significance of the case which ensured equal educational opportunities for all children in California.
