News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Sept. 15, 2020: Google’s doodle on Tuesday honored a Puerto Rican activist on the first day of National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Google honored Puerto Rican civil rights pioneer Felicitas Mendez, who helped lead the fight to end segregation in California schools. In the drawing that appeared on Google’s homepage Sept. 15, a smiling Mendez is shown watching a crowd of happy children of all races walk into a school. Her three children, led by her husband Gonzalo, are among them.
The Puerto Rican immigrant and her husband Gonzalo took on California school segregation laws after their three children were denied entry at a local elementary school because of their skin color in 1944.Their case, Mendez v. Westminster, led to the end of public school segregation in California and paved the way for the federal Brown v. Board of Education, which ended school segregation across the nation.
Along with the doodle, Google featured a three-minute documentary examining Mendez’ story and the case, with photos and video clips of Mendez and the family, including her daughter, Sylvia Mendez.
