This resource is designed to accompany the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino and National Museum of American History's video Latinas Talk Latinas, Margaret Salazar-Porzio Talks About Sylvia Mendez: From Classrooms to History Books. After watching the video, which is located in the second tile of this collection, please return to this page to learn more about the objects and resources we have in our digital collection as well as additional information that will help you further explore the topics and themes presented in the video.

Sylvia Mendez has dedicated her life to bringing awareness of discrimination in schools. Her activism began as a young child attending school in Southern California. During the 1940s, her family joined others to fight for fair schooling for non-white children.