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SEPARATE IS NEVER EQUAL

Page history last edited by RichiesPicks 9 years, 9 months ago

 

12 June 2014 SEPARATE IS NEVER EQUAL: SYLVIA MENDEZ & HER FAMILY’S FIGHT FOR DESEGREGATION by Duncan Tonatiuh, Abrams, May 2014, 40p., ISBN: 978-1-4197-1054-4

 

“At that time, not only were schools segregated but also other public places as well, such as pools, parks, and movie theaters.  Some businesses even had signs that read, NO DOGS OR MEXICANS ALLOWED.”

 

Sylvia Mendez was not Mexican; she was American, and she spoke perfect English.  Yet, because of her heritage, she could not attend her neighborhood school.  Instead, she was required to attend the “Mexican” school across town:

 

“The building was a clapboard shack, and the halls were not spacious or clean.  A cow pasture surrounded the school. The students had to eat their lunch outside, and flies would land on their food.  There was an electric wire that surrounded the pasture to keep the cows in.  If you touched it, you received a shock!  The school did not have a playground--not even a swing.”

 

One thing I find exciting about the story of Sylvia Mendez and her family’s successful fight for equality is spelled out for readers by author/illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh in the Author’s Note:

 

“Two people who played key roles in the Brown case had also been involved in the Mendez case: Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren.  As a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Marshall had sent friend-of-the-court briefs to the judge in the Mendez case.  In these letters he argued against segregation.  He later used several of the same arguments when he became the lawyer in the Brown case.  Earl Warren was the governor who signed into law the desegregation of schools in California after the Mendez victory.  He later became the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  He presided over the Brown case and ruled in Brown’s favor.”

 

SEGREGATION IS NEVER EQUAL illuminates an important episode in both California and U.S. history.  It is an outstanding picture book for older readers that fills a significant child-lit gap in the timeline that runs from the Plessy v. Ferguson case through the Brown v. Board of Education case.    

 

The illustrations are distinguished and distinctive.  The characters are depicted in a flattened style reminiscent of folk murals, yet they provide a strong sense of action and emotion.

 

Here in California, where the state’s schoolchildren have the opportunity to vote for California Young Reader Medal contenders, I’m enthusiastically recommending this one for consideration in the Picture Books for Older Readers category.

 

Richie Partington, MLIS

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