Pictured: Asm. Henry T. Perea, Asm. Sharon Quirk-Silva, Sen. Ricardo Lara, Mrs. Sylvia Mendez, Speaker John A. Pérez, Sen. Lou Correa
Sylvia Mendez is the oldest daughter of Gonzalo Mendez, a Mexican immigrant, and Felicitas Mendez, a Puerto Rican, who challenged segregation so that she and other Latino children could have access to the same quality education provided to white students. In 1943 in Westminster, California, students of Mexican descent were required to enroll in segregated and inferior schools known as "Mexican Schools." When Sylvia was in the third grade, she and her brothers, Gonzalo, Jr. and Jerome, were denied admission to the "white" school near their Westminster home. Her parents led a lawsuit against four Orange County school districts with four other Latino families in the landmark civil rights case, Mendez v. Westminster School District. The Mendez family won in Federal court in 1946, then again in appeal 1947, and helped make California the first state in the nation to end school segregation. Today, Sylvia continues the legacy left by her parents by fighting for quality education and encouraging students to stay in school. On February 15, 2011, President Barack Obama presented Sylvia Mendez with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.