Felícita "La Prieta" Méndez (1916-1998) and the end of Latino school segregation in California

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Auteur principal: Jennifer McCormick
Format: Artículo científico
Langue:en
Publié: The City University of New York 2007
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author Jennifer McCormick
author_facet Jennifer McCormick
contents Felícita "La Prieta" Méndez (1916-1998) and the end of Latino school segregation in California Jennifer McCormick César J. Ayala Sociología Méndez v Chicanos Westminster segregation Puerto Ricans This paper reexamines the case of Méndez v. Westminster, a lawsuit filed by a Latinocouple whose children were denied admission to a public school in SouthernCalifornia in the 1940s. Felícita Méndez, born in Puerto Rico, and her husband,Gonzalo, a naturalized American citizen born in Chihuahua, Mexico, challengedthe segregation of Latinos and won their cases in the courts of Southern Californiaand in the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of San Francisco, ending schoolsegregation in California. The family sued the Board of Education of WestminsterCounty after their children were refused admittance into the local school ofthe community where they lived, on account of being “too dark.” Felícita’s parentsand siblings were racialized as “mulattos” in Puerto Rico, as “black” in Arizona,and as “Mexican” in California. Out of a lifelong struggle against exclusion,Felícita developed a universalistic anti-racism and a strong sense of citizen rights.We show that segregation was regionally differentiated in the United States andthat the same individual could be racialized in different ways in different regionsof the country and its colonies abroad. Thus, the larger architecture of the U.S.empire must be taken into account when examining cases such as that of FelícitaMéndez. We challenge conventional notions of racial stratification as a binarystructure and argue instead that a complex system of gradated exclusion bestdescribes the racial/ethnic stratification system of the U.S. We call the practicesof partial exclusion and partial enfranchisement, processes of “bordering.”Through these processes, the empire determined who belonged in the polityand with what level of political and economic rights. 2007 artículo científico 1538-6279 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37719202 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=377 Centro Journal application/pdf The City University of New York Centro Journal (Estados Unidos de América) Num.2 Vol.XIX
format Artículo científico
id redalyc_37719202
institution Redalyc
language en
publishDate 2007
publisher The City University of New York
spellingShingle Felícita "La Prieta" Méndez (1916-1998) and the end of Latino school segregation in California
Jennifer McCormick
Sociología
Méndez v
Chicanos
Westminster
segregation
Puerto Ricans
Felícita "La Prieta" Méndez (1916-1998) and the end of Latino school segregation in California Jennifer McCormick César J. Ayala Sociología Méndez v Chicanos Westminster segregation Puerto Ricans This paper reexamines the case of Méndez v. Westminster, a lawsuit filed by a Latinocouple whose children were denied admission to a public school in SouthernCalifornia in the 1940s. Felícita Méndez, born in Puerto Rico, and her husband,Gonzalo, a naturalized American citizen born in Chihuahua, Mexico, challengedthe segregation of Latinos and won their cases in the courts of Southern Californiaand in the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of San Francisco, ending schoolsegregation in California. The family sued the Board of Education of WestminsterCounty after their children were refused admittance into the local school ofthe community where they lived, on account of being “too dark.” Felícita’s parentsand siblings were racialized as “mulattos” in Puerto Rico, as “black” in Arizona,and as “Mexican” in California. Out of a lifelong struggle against exclusion,Felícita developed a universalistic anti-racism and a strong sense of citizen rights.We show that segregation was regionally differentiated in the United States andthat the same individual could be racialized in different ways in different regionsof the country and its colonies abroad. Thus, the larger architecture of the U.S.empire must be taken into account when examining cases such as that of FelícitaMéndez. We challenge conventional notions of racial stratification as a binarystructure and argue instead that a complex system of gradated exclusion bestdescribes the racial/ethnic stratification system of the U.S. We call the practicesof partial exclusion and partial enfranchisement, processes of “bordering.”Through these processes, the empire determined who belonged in the polityand with what level of political and economic rights. 2007 artículo científico 1538-6279 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37719202 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=377 Centro Journal application/pdf The City University of New York Centro Journal (Estados Unidos de América) Num.2 Vol.XIX
title Felícita "La Prieta" Méndez (1916-1998) and the end of Latino school segregation in California
topic Sociología
Méndez v
Chicanos
Westminster
segregation
Puerto Ricans
url https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37719202