Description
Primary Research Question:
How did the Mendez v Westminster case become one of the first cases to successfully challenge the doctrine of “separate but equal”?
In your essay, be sure to address each of the following points. Use the information from your Mendez Exploration Activity to help you develop your essay:
What happened when Soledad Vidaurri took the children to register them for school? (Keep this section BRIEF! This is not the focus of the story. It is simply the beginning!)
How did Gonzalo Mendez respond? What did he do?
Was the segregation of Mexican/Mexican American children the result of law or something else?
How did the case get started, and who was involved?
How did the case proceed? What are some of the highlights from the testimony?
How did the first case end?
What happened during the appeal?
What was the final outcome of the appeal?
What happened in California as a result?
The Nuts and Bolts:
Your essay will need to be a MINIMUM of THREE pages in length. Be sure you are addressing ALL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION!
You must use a minimum of THREE sources.
You must provide BOTH in-text citations AND a list of works cited.
Citing Legal Documents
(Links to an external site.)
OWL @ Purdue: MLA Documentation
(Links to an external site.)
MLA Style Center
(Links to an external site.)
The essay must be typed in MLA Format
Reminder: Essays that do not meet the minimum page requirement, do not use the minimum number of sources, or that do not include BOTH in-text citations AND a list of Works Cited will not earn a passing grade.
Helpful Hints:
Names of court cases are written in italics. (for example: Mendez v Westminster).
Don’t confuse the names of the people (Gonzalo Mendez — no italics) with the names of the cases (Mendez — with italics)
Don’t focus the discussion on the children. While the children were denied access to the school, they are NOT the primary actors in the stories. Gonzalo Mendez was the person taking action.
When you refer to people in the story, you can use their full names (Gonzalo Mendez; David Marcus), or you can refer to them by last name (Mendez; Marcus). You CANNOT refer to them by their first names alone.
Do not use “kids” in formal academic writing. Always use “children” or “students.”
Use all of the information you collected as you completed the Mendez Exploration Project to help you develop your draft.