Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her
Family’s Fight for Desegregation
By Duncan Tonatiuh
Copyright 2014
Abrams Books for
Young Readers
Reading Level:
Lexile- 870 L, Grade Level- K-3
2015 Sibert Honor
Book
2015 Tomas Rivera
Mexican American Children’s Book Award
2015 Pura Belpre
Award
“segregation, civil
rights, education, Hispanic, community”
Plot
Almost ten
years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped
put and end to school segregation in California. Being an American citizen of
Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, Sylvia was denied enrollment to a “whites
only” school and sent to a small and poorly equipped school. Sylvia’s family
took action by organizing the local Hispanic community and eventually filing a
lawsuit in the federal district court, which eventually brings an end to
segregated education in California.
Suggested Delivery
Read Aloud
Electronic Resources
This video displays Sylvia Mendez’s acceptance speech for
winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Watching this video before
or after reading will give students a chance to understand the importance
of the story explained in the book
This site discusses the history of Mexican Americans in
California, giving students information that will help them better understand
the history of racism and segregation surrounding Mexican Americans especially
in the time period during which the Mendez vs. Board of Education case took
place
Teaching Suggestions
1. Vocabulary
- Appeal: a request after a trial is complete for a higher court to review the outcome
- Citizen: a person who pledges allegiance to the government and is entitled to civil rights and duties
- Degrading: loss of self respect
- Inferior: of lesser quality
- Integrate: to open to memners of all races, ethnicities, and groups
- Petition: a formal document reqesting a right or benefit from a person or group
- Segregate: to separate people based on race, ethnicity, class or other factors
Before Reading:
A great way to introduce this story is to link it with a lesson on the Civil Rights Movement. Students learning about key figures in the movement such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., and events such as Brown vs. Board of Education will give students the essential background knowledge they need to understand this story. Activate student’s schema by asking questions such as: “What do you know about the Civil Rights movement?” “What is segregation?” and “Why was Brown vs. Board of Education so important to the civil rights movement?” introduce the book as a story about segregation in schools against Hispanics and encourage students to notice similarities and differences in how Sylvia Mendez and her family are treated and the African Americans involved in the civil rights movement.
A great way to introduce this story is to link it with a lesson on the Civil Rights Movement. Students learning about key figures in the movement such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., and events such as Brown vs. Board of Education will give students the essential background knowledge they need to understand this story. Activate student’s schema by asking questions such as: “What do you know about the Civil Rights movement?” “What is segregation?” and “Why was Brown vs. Board of Education so important to the civil rights movement?” introduce the book as a story about segregation in schools against Hispanics and encourage students to notice similarities and differences in how Sylvia Mendez and her family are treated and the African Americans involved in the civil rights movement.
During Reading:
Read the story aloud to students using dialogic reading strategies. Take the time to pause at vocabulary words and ask students what they think the definitions of the words are and work towards building correct definitions. Pause at specific events and key details to point out the importance of the event and ask students literal and inferential questions about the story as well as questions that prompt students to make connections between the story and the civil rights movement.
Read the story aloud to students using dialogic reading strategies. Take the time to pause at vocabulary words and ask students what they think the definitions of the words are and work towards building correct definitions. Pause at specific events and key details to point out the importance of the event and ask students literal and inferential questions about the story as well as questions that prompt students to make connections between the story and the civil rights movement.
After Reading:
After reading, students will identify the major plot events
that led to the integration of California schools in the story. As students
provide events, create a chart or timeline of the plot for a visual reference
for students to refer back to
Writing Activity:
Students will work as a class to write a script and perform
a Reader’s Theatre reenacting the Mendez vs. Westminster court case. Names will
be pulled out of a hat to assign roles to students to act as Sylvia, her
parents, the principal, the judge etc. (if need be large roles can be split
between two students). Students will gain a better comprehension of the story
by acting out the court case scene since it is likely many students have little
understanding of court proceedings. Also, students will be able to better
understand he importance of each character and the scenario Sylvia and her
family were in.
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