Jessica Andrade

Dr. Namala
His 301
MW 11:30am
Analysis
Primary Source Analysis

In early stages of the Los Angeles making, Mexicans were never important to
elites or society. There was a huge Anglo takeover of Los Angeles due to race, ethnicity
and power. City builders focused on race and class and was no room for acceptance for
any Mexicans or Mexican Americans and were segregated geographically. Before the
Brown vs. Board of 1954 was the Mendez vs Westminster case in 1947 that challenged
the federal courts in Orange County due to racial segregation. Five Mexican-American
fathers Thomas Estrada, William Guzman, Gonzalo Mendez, Frank Palomino, and
Lorenzo Ramirez stated that their children and other Mexican children were being subject
to discrimination by segregating them in schools made for Mexicans only. The final
ruling declared it unconstitutional to segregate children becoming the first ruling to end
segregation in Westminster, Santa Ana, El Modena and Garden Grove. Not many students
learn about the Mendez vs. Westminster story instead they hear and learn about Brown
vs. Board and Plessy vs. Ferguson for many racial and political reasons. Mexicans have
traditionally been and continue to be underpowered in society because of their skin color
and race.
Sylvia Mendez is the daughter of deceased father, Gonzalo Mendez that found the
courage from anger and humiliation to fight the justice system. At the time, Westminster
district only had two schools in their district one for all white students and the other for
Mexicans only. Along with 5,000 other Mexicans students, the five fathers were fed up

with the discrimination and segregation their children faced in Orange county. Sylvia
Mendez is an activist for civil rights she travels and gives speeches and educates based on
her history and experience she confronted as a child.
Mexicans have historically been categorized as lazy, dirty and incapable,
however, history has proven otherwise. Mexicans have worked very hard to help source
Los Angeles with their hard work. For example in Whitewashed Adobe by William
Deverell,, the Los Angeles River is symbolic to Los Angeles and made possible by the
Mexican community who lived by the river because Mexicans knew everything about the
river since they were segregated and lived right next to it. They liked when the river
flooded because it helped their crops grow. When the Anglos came, Anglos tried
controlling the river. Population increase was creating filth rather than life so rover had to
be controlled. Controlling the river was part of the Anglo vision by using Mexican labor,
and most of the elderly who had the most memory Mexican memory in order to see how
to control the river to cement it. Engineers had to interview older Mexicans because they
knew the path of the river. Based on Mexican memory, Anglos were able to control the
river but only with Mexican help.
Mexicans have contributed their hard work and sweat to Los Angeles but today
continue to face segregation and discrimination due to their race and color. In
Whitewashed Adobe by William Deverell, the author talks about the Mexican brick
workers who worked for Simon. Mexicans were living under harsh conditions, no
electricity, gas, and plumbing until 1930s during the brickyard era. Mexicans were
exposed to dangerous working conditions and hot weather twelve hour shifts. Underpaid,
dangerous and rough work but no one else was able to handle the labor so Mexicans
accepted the challenge. The long working hours did not suffice because Mexican

communities still lived in poverty. However, families were happy because they were
close to their families and poverty did not represent unhappiness.
To conclude, Mexicans have been underestimated for many years due to the
negative perceptions of race and ethnic past. Labor recruitment networks beyond the U.S.
Bracero Program started around 1920s during the Mexican Revolution. Mexicans wanted
an escape the war, so the Bracero program lured many labors. Because there was a huge
wave of labors coming in, there were also children who had to go to school while their
parents worked. Unfortunately, Mexican children also faced the same negative
associations of race and color their parents did and today continue to battle for equality in
the work place and schools.