Board of Education, social scientists helped win the case with testimony of the “Good Doll, Bad Doll” study that showed both white children and black children overwhelmingly saw white dolls as “good” and labeled black dolls as “bad.” When asked by the researchers, “Which doll is most like you?”, the black children bent their heads in shame and slowly pointed to the “bad doll.” Heartbreaking. Make no mistake – the stories we tell have huge impact on how we perceive our place in society. Just like #oscarssowhite called out the systemic Jim Crow in Hollywood, excluding the Mendez story from our classrooms perpetuates the false narrative that the American civil rights struggle was only a black and white issue.
There is an even deeper reason for sharing this story.
They feel they have been robbed of a legacy that changes the way they see themselves and America. But more than that, once they learn of Mendez, our students are angry that this story, THEIR STORY, a triumph of diverse people and communities working together to change the nation, is not being told and celebrated the way they feel it should be.
Students from Beverly Hills to the Bronx are stunned and excited to learn about Mendez. This is a mind-blowing message for all of our communities especially today. I have spent the last 15 years devoted to sharing this inspiring story because the stories we tell, tell us who we are and who we can be, and this powerful chapter in American civil rights history tears down the walls to reveal the truth: it’s about all of us. Among many surprises, Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren were involved in both the Mendez and Brown cases. Mendez had the impact of making California the first state to end school segregation, paving the way to Brown v. Westminster is the 1947 Orange County case that took place during the Holocaust of WWII and Japanese internment. Robbie: A Random Act of Mendez – For All of Us Close
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