New Report Examines Immigrants, African Americans And The Struggle For Civil Rights

Perspectives on Immigration 

The Lasting Impact of Mendez v. Westminster in the Struggle for Desegregation
 by Maria Blanco, University of California - Berkeley Law 

 

Washington, D.C. - In IPC's latest Perspectives on Immigration, Maria Blanco, Executive Director for the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute at Berkeley Law, examines the impact of a federal circuit court's 1947 decision which found the segregation of immigration families' Mexican American school children in California unconstitutional. The Ninth Circuit Court's historic decision in the case Mendez v. Westminster proved to be critical in the strategic choices and legal analysis used seven years later in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case which ended racial segregation in U.S. schools.

More than just a history lesson, however, the connective tissue that links Mendez and Brown demonstrates how individuals from vastly different backgrounds, races and ethnicities were brought together to overturn a history of discrimination and segregation.

This paper is released in conjunction with the American Immigration Council's Immigration Achievement Awards . This year's theme is African Americans, Civil Rights & Immigration: A Legacy of Inspiration and Leadership.