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Roberto Alvarez vs. the Lemon Grove School Board

On January 5, 1931, Jerome T. Green, principal of the Lemon Grove Grammar School, barred 75 children of Mexican descent from entering his school. It was said that these children caused health and sanitation problems and they came from homes where ignorance and poverty prevailed. Against that backdrop of cultural chauvinism the Lemon Grove School District in California secretly established a separate school for students of Mexican ancestry in the hope of "Americanizing" them. Outraged that their children were being segregated from the Anglo children, the Mexican American community of this San Diego suburb sued the Lemon Grove School Board and won (Espinosa, 1986).

Outcome - Eventually, a judge ruled against the Lemon Grove School Board. But his ruling was based on the premise that Mexicans were officially Caucasians. At that time under state law, Caucasian students could not legally be segregated from other Caucasians. But state law allowed segregation of Black, Asian, and Indian children (Espinosa, 1986).