Critical Race Theory
A Little Background Information
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight For Desegregation by Duncan Tonatum is based upon a real court case known as the Mendez Case that was the stepping stone for the Brown vs. Board of Education court case in 1954. This story begins with young Sylvia when her family moved to a farm near Westminster, CA. When Sylvia’s aunt took Sylvia, her siblings, and cousins to enroll in school the secretary informed the family that Sylvia and her siblings could not enroll in the school because they were Mexican and must be enrolled at the Mexican School. Sylvia’s cousins were eligible to enroll, but her aunt refused to enroll her own children because of the outrageous discrimination that the school was having towards the Mexican-American community. After the family returned to the farm Sylvia’s aunt told her father about what happened at the school. He decided to visit the school himself. He was told that his children must attend the Mexican School but was never given a concrete reason why his children had to attend a different school. The children ended up attending Hoover Elementary, the Mexican School, but the teachers were teaching students with the intent that they would drop out of school by the eighth grade. Sylvia’s father decided that enough was enough. He established the Parents’ Association of Mexican-American Children and created a petition to integrated schools so that ALL children could have an equal education. Mr. Mendez hired a lawyer, David Marcus to help him file a lawsuit against the school system. Mr. Mendez and David Marcus traveled all over Orange County to find people who were experiencing similar problems so that they could formally file the lawsuit. Once the court date arrived the family went to the trial and many school officials and students were called to the stand for questioning and to testify. The judge ruled nearly a year later that public education must be open to all children by unified school association regardless of lineage- this was in favor of the Mendez family. The school system appealed the decision, but the Court of Appeals voted in favor of the Mendez family again. The story concludes as Sylvia returns to school after being told that she does not belong there because she is Mexican-American and how she stands tall because her family fought for her to receive equal opportunities and good education.
Recognizing Stereotypes
In this scene of the story, the author, Duncan Tonatiuh, recognizes stereotypes while the Mendez family is at the trial. In this scene, Mr. Kent said that Mexican children needed to go to the Mexican school because “they need to learn cleanliness of mind, manner, and dress. They are not learning that at home. They have problems with lice, impetigo, and tuberculosis...”. Tonatiuh addresses the stereotype that Mexican children have poor hygiene and do practice good social behaviors. Towards the end of the page, it is brought to the reader’s attention that what Mr. Kent had said was untrue and degrading to the Mexican-American population. This is just one of the many ways that Tonatiuh recognizes racism and/or stereotypes throughout this excellent book.
Refuting and Combating Racism
This scene shows examples of how Tonatiuh refutes and combats racism throughout this book. First, Mr. Mendez is combating racism in this scene by saying “It’s not fair that our children have to go to an inferior school”. At this point in the page, the reader is seeing that Mr. Mendez does not think that it is right for his children to receive any less of an education because they are Mexican-Americans. At this point in the story, the reader can see that Mr. Mendez believes that all children should have equal educational opportunities. As this page continues it goes on to share that the teachers were not providing quality education to students and how they expected the students to drop out of school by the eighth grade. This refutes racism because the children are being forced to attend a school that is not providing a quality education for students because they are Mexican-Americans. If the students were not of Mexican decent they would be able to attend the public school on 17th Street (Westminster School). By the end of this page, the reader can gather that Mr. Mendez is talking about the inequities that Mexican-American children are experiencing at this school and that he is beginning to think about how he can get his children to access to teachers who will encourage them to become contributing members of society. This spread is just one of the many pages in this book that Tonatiuh addresses these critical issues.
Together WE Rise
In Separate is Never Equal, the Mendez family is faced with a series of challenges as they work with a lawyer, David Marcus, to integrate public schools in Orange County, CA. Mr. Mendez and David Marcus spent a lot of time traveling to nearby cities and towns to find families who had experienced similar inequities with their children’s education. When David Marcus and Mr. Mendez had gathered enough supporters to take the school board to trial; they were appalled at the racism, stereotypes, and personal bias that surfaced when school officials were called to the stand. One example of the absurdness that they witnessed was when on the stand Mr. Kent stated that Mexican-American children have a problem with lice. As many of us know it is not true that ALL Mexican-American children have a lice problem. Many children acquire lice at some point in their lives- not just Mexican-American children. The Mendez family and others sat thorough this trial and did not act out when ugly and untruthful things were said about their culture and people, but instead respectfully listened to the trial and were ready to take the stand if David Marcus needed them to. This family rose during this trial because they did not let the unfair treatment of their children and their education bring them down. They fought back and tried to make things right. When the judge ruled that ALL children in California were able to go to school together it provided a stepping stone for the Brown v. Board of education supreme court case. Overall, the Mendez family did not let educational inequities hold their children back from attaining quality education and fought for their children and many others to receive a fair and equal education.
Cultural Authenticity
When examining Separate is Never Equal, it becomes very evident that this book is culturally authentic. This book accurately depicts the segregation in schools before public schools were desegregated. Schools that “white” children attended were often nice and had many resources whereas students such as Mexican-American children attend run-down schools with hand-me-down textbooks and supplies that were not in good condition. Another example of cultural authenticity in this book is the illustrations. Tonatiuh did an excellent job illustrating the various people highlighted throughout this book. He included typical school-girl dresses that are culturally authentic for this time period in history for young girls to wear to school. He also included culturally authentic men's clothing, such as suspenders. Lastly, the skin color representations are culturally authentic throughout this book. Tonatiuh utilizes different shades of skin tones to indirectly show that skin color can have variations and it is not as simple as brown, black, and white. These are just a few examples of how Tonatiuh has created a culturally authentic text.
Implications For The Classroom
Upon entering the classroom I would like to be working with K-2 students. Most of these students will probably not have extensive prior background knowledge about segregation and desegregation. Therefore I would use this book in a text set that has a common theme of inequities and the main character advocating for change. One book that I think would make a great addition to Separate Is Never Equal is Malala: Activist for Girls' Education ( I blogged about this excellent book a few weeks ago). Both of these texts address inequities in education, the main characters advocate for change, and leave the reader wanting to take action. Because these students are so young, I think that having a classroom conversation would be the most appropriate for the students when unpacking the text set. Once students have completed reading books from the text set I would invite students to brainstorm about how all of the books in the text set are connected. I would record these thoughts in a Thinking Map on a piece of anchor chart paper. After students have finished sharing their thoughts, I would ask students the "So What?" question. I will record student responses for their ideas when exploring a possible call to action in response to this unit. I then will conclude this discussion by asking students how we can prevent these inequities from ever happening again. I would also record these responses. After the lesson, I would hang up each of the Thinking Maps that the class has created on one of the walls to reference at a later date.
Laminack & Kelley
After reading Separate Is Never Equal, I was reminded of the quote from Margaret Mead that begins Chapter 5 of Reading to Make A Difference; “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. This quote resonates with me because the Mendez family and their supporters were a small group of people in Orange County, CA who fought for their children to have equal educational opportunities. Their fight eventually paved the path for a supreme court case that desegregated schools. This truly shows that it only takes a small number of people to change the world. Chapter 5 of Reading to Make A Difference focuses on advocating for change. Laminack and Kelley state that “Children see injustice more easily and more clearly than many adults do”. Separate Is Never Equal is a great text to get students to expand their thinking on discrimination against the Mexican-American population, talk about the importance of advocacy and proposing a call to action, and how Sylvia Mendez’s family paved the path for the Brown v. Board of Education supreme court case. I think that by using this text with these implications for learning, teachers will be able to see how children view injustices in the world. I think that in addition to these implications, this book extends the invitation to teachers to talk to students about personal bias, empathy, and activism. This aligns with Laminack and Kelly’s Framework by reflecting on the book and taking action after reading. Lastly, Laminack and Kelley discuss the importance of creating mirrors and sliding glass doors for students and I think that this book has the potential to serve as a mirror for some students in my future classroom, especially those who may have immigrated to the United States from a country that does not provide equal educational opportunities for their youth.
About The Author/Illustrator
Duncan Tonatiuh
Duncan Tonatiuh is the author and illustrator of Separate Is Never Equal. Tonatiuh was born in Mexico City and grew up in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He has written and illustrated many children's books.
Sources
Laminak, L. L. & Kelly, K. (2019). Reading to Make a Difference: Using literature to help students speak freely, think deeply, and take action. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
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Tonatiuh, D (2014). ​Separate is Never Equal. Published by Abram books.