Role models are important in society. They can give us a sense of who we want to be in the future, what we can become, and what we can do to make a difference today. They prove that we can become way more than what we already are. Especially during Hispanic Heritage Month, there are many role models to be found worldwide! But, one role model who not only stood for and with her family but also fought for all Hispanics’ rights, is Sylvia Mendez. Mendez became a civil rights activist (and still is) after an event that changed her entire life. When she was only eight years old, her family tried to enroll Sylvia and her siblings into a school, but they weren’t able to enroll because their skin color was too dark and they had a Hispanic last name. Much occurred since then, and she became the person she is now, an 88-year-old hardworking woman who stands up for her people after what her family went through. She has traveled across the country telling others of her story and giving speeches about what happened to her and how her family took part in the desegregation of the United States. She ultimately won the Medal of Freedom back in 2011 which was given to her by former President Barack Obama. Her journey is incredible and it’s impossible not to stick around to see her story. Sylvia Mendez deserves everything good that comes into her life. 

She was born on June 7th, 1936 in Santa Ana, California, but her real story started in 1944. Her parents Gonzalo and Felicitas were trying to enroll Sylvia and her brothers at a school in Westminster. But as I stated previously, the school didn’t accept them solely because they were Hispanic and only allowed white children. Sylvia and her brothers were then admitted to another school but it was a Mexican-only school. After Sylvia’s parents attempted to enroll them, Gonzalo Mendez then chose to take this up legally. A year later in 1945, Gonzalo had hired David Marcus, who was a civil rights attorney and he filed a lawsuit against the school and other school districts with the same policies. More and more Hispanic families then decided to join the lawsuit after their children were similarly treated unfairly and were forced to go to all-Mexican schools. David Marcus made good points as to why this was unfair, the first one being that segregating children, or others for that matter because of their ethnicity violates the Fourteenth Amendment. His second reason was that it took away the ability of Hispanic children to be able to learn English in an environment that practically only spoke English. The defense’s opposing argument was that Hispanics didn’t excel in the language and needed to be taught properly. The Mendez family then won the lawsuit in 1946 and the four schools in question had to stop segregating children from all-white schools. In 1947, the court had finally ruled for all schools to stop segregating children in all of the public schools following the Brown v Board of Education, so all in all it was a huge win for not only the Mendez family but also for other families whose kids were being treated unfairly because of their ethnicity.

Sylvia then attended the elementary school that shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was to even enroll in. Later in her life, she graduated from a community college with an associate’s degree in nursing, and soon earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing and public health certificate at the California State University in Los Angeles. She went on to keep supporting her family and her people after what she went through. She continued the civil rights activism her family had started and went all across the country to keep going with this activism. This rightfully led to her, in 2011, being awarded by Barack Obama himself the Presidential Medal of Freedom for everything that she’s done.  Later in 2012, she received an Honorary Doctor Degree of Humane Letters at Brooklyn College of The City of University of New York. She then went on to work for 33 years at the Los Angeles University of Southern California Medical Center and worked as a nurse. Even after retiring, she still made sure not to just forget about what she went through, and she still goes around educating people about the Mendez v Westminster case. At this point, she’s already been all around the world, to each of the seven continents. Now, she’s happily with her family while still doing what she loves. Mendez has four grandchildren and she adopted two daughters, and now she’s living her best life. 

To top it all off, Sylvia Mendez is a true role model for Hispanics, especially during Hispanic Heritage Month. She and her family fought to bring justice to the rights that were being violated for Hispanics. This resulted in their and other Hispanics’ victory and their rights weren’t being violated anymore. Not just to honor her family but to keep fighting for what’s right, she educated and taught everyone about the Mendez v Westminster case in her adulthood and even still to this day as an elderly woman. She rightfully deserves everything good that came to her like the Medal of Freedom, her degree in nursing, her bachelor’s degree, public health certificate, and the Honorary Doctor Degree of Humane Letters. Sylvia Mendez is a perfect role model. She fights for her people, her family, and her rights as a human being because just like everyone else, she’s human too. Nobody’s ethnicity should dictate what they can and cannot do.