Separate Is Never Equal
Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation
-
- USD 12.99
-
- USD 12.99
Publisher Description
Seven years before Brown v. Board of Education, the Mendez family fought to end segregation in California schools. Discover their incredible story in Separate Is Never Equal, a picture book from award-winning creator Duncan Tonatiuh.
Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Winner
A Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book
A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
STARRED REVIEW *“Masterfully combines text and folk-inspired art to add an important piece to the mosaic of U.S. civil rights history.” ―Kirkus Reviews
When her family moved to the town of Westminster, California, young Sylvia Mendez was excited about enrolling in her neighborhood school. But she and her brothers were turned away and told they had to attend the Mexican school instead. Sylvia could not understand why—she was an American citizen who spoke perfect English. Why were the children of Mexican families forced to attend a separate school?
Unable to get a satisfactory answer from the school board, the Mendez family decided to take matters into its own hands and organized a lawsuit. In the end, the Mendez family’s efforts helped bring an end to segregated schooling in California in 1947, seven years before the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in schools across America.
Author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh writes in his notes, “My hope is that this book will help children and young people learn about this important yet little known event in American history. I also hope that they will see themselves reflected in Sylvia’s story and realize that their voices are valuable.”
Using his signature illustration style and incorporating his interviews with Sylvia Mendez, as well as information from court files and news accounts, Tonatiuh tells the inspiring story of the Mendez family’s fight for justice and equality, a fight that is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tonatiuh (Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote) offers an illuminating account of a family's hard-fought legal battle to desegregate California schools in the years before Brown v. Board of Education. In 1944, after years of laboring as a field worker, Sylvia Mendez's father leases his own farm in Westminster, Calif. But even though Mexican-born Mr. Mendez is a U.S. citizen and his wife is Puerto Rican, their children are banned from the local public school and told they must attend the inferior "Mexican school." When all else fails, the Mendezes and four other families file a lawsuit. Readers will share Sylvia's outrage as she listens to a district superintendent denigrate Mexicans (Tonatiuh drew his words and other testimony from court transcripts). Visually, the book is in keeping with Tonatiuh's previous work, his simplified and stylized shapes drawn from Mexican artwork. He again portrays his characters' faces in profile, with collaged elements of hair, fabric, and fibrous paper lending an understated texture. An extensive author's note provides historical context (including that Sylvia Mendez received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011) and urges readers to make their own voices heard. Ages 6 9.
