“Separate but not Equal: Placing the Et al. back in Mendez v. Westminster”

Hear how the Orange local Ramirez family (along with other members of the Estrada, Guzman & Palomino families) played a prominent role in the landmark 1947 federal Mexican American school segregation case that paved the way for national racial desegregation.

On Tuesday November 18 th at 5:30 in the Community Room of the Orange Public Library, the Orange Community Historical Society looks at how a local Orange family figured prominently in a landmark case that brought light to educational inequities and did something about it.

Please join us as we welcome Michael Ramirez, son of Lorenzo Ramirez, who was part of the instrumental case Mendez et al. vs. Westminster. Often, this landmark case is abbreviated to Mendez vs. Westminster.

The Ramirez family knew firsthand that the education they received in the Mexican School at Lincoln Elementary may have been separate, but it certainly wasn’t equal.

Michael Ramirez was born in 1955 at St. Joseph Hospital and lived in El Modena throughout his childhood. He attended both Lincoln Elementary and Jordan Elementary, which was built to eliminate the memory of segregation. He has been a business owner and currently works for the Moreno Valley School District. Married to his high school sweetheart for 49 years, he continues to preserve the legacy of his parents legacy having founded the Et Al Committee.

Other members of the Estrada, Guzman and Palomino families will be on hand as well to share about their forebearer’s work that impacted the suit.