A judge ruled in 1931 that the Lemon Grove School Board was wrong to create a separate elementary school for Mexican-American students
Roberto Alvarez Jr., center, with his sister Sylvia, left, are handed a proclamation from Mayor Alysson Snow during a 95th anniversary ceremony for the Lemon Grove Incident on March 29, 2026 in Lemon Grove, CA.
The Lemon Grove Incident was a landmark case involving their father Roberto Alvarez vs. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District that attempted to build a separate school for children of Mexican origin. Their father and mother are depicted on the mural behind them. If it weren’t for a box Roberto Alvarez Jr.’s family kept for decades, San Diegans might know a lot less about a pivotal moment in history that transpired here nearly a century ago. Inside that box were newspaper clippings, school board minutes and other papers documenting what his parents had accomplished as children back in 1931: desegregating Lemon Grove schools for Mexican-American students. Today, much of what is known about the court fight — now known as the Lemon Grove incident — comes from Alvarez, now 82. On Sunday, he shared that history with the community at the city’s annual commemoration of the battle for the right to an equal education. Alvarez’s father was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the school district’s effort to move Mexican-American students to a separate school. His mother was also a plaintiff. Together with other families, they mounted one of the nation’s first successful legal challenges to segregation. That legal battle, and those children, are depicted in a 70-foot mural on the side of The Neighborhood event center in the city. The mural provides people with history of the event and that their rights had to be fought for, said Mario Chacon, mural artist. The mural“It’s a testimonial to the resilience of a united community when injustice is committed against, particularly against, children,” he said. People attend a 95th anniversary ceremony for the Lemon Grove Incident on March 29, 2026 in Lemon Grove, CA. The Lemon Grove Incident was a landmark case involving Roberto Alvarez vs. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District that attempted to build a separate school for children of Mexican origin. The mural in the background depicts the court case. collecting oral histories, following up on an offhand comment his father made. Since then, he has delved into the episode in his family’s history as an academic, writing scholarly papers, presenting at conferences and helping with a docu-drama for public television. He’s now a retired UC San Diego professor of anthropology. In his remarks at the event, Alvarez said that there is a resurgence of anti-immigrant assaults being seen in the country. “Although we are here to celebrate the achievement of the Mexican community, we must remember that the struggle is not over,” he said. By 1930, in the early days of the Great Depression, anti-immigrant sentiment was already high. A year earlier, a new federal law had for the first time made undocumented immigration a crime. Tens of thousands of people would be deported to Mexico in the early 1930s. The Lemon Grove School District began creating a new school specifically for Mexican-American children, who made up more than half of its students., Mexican students were ordered to go not to their longtime five-room school but to a two-room building — a former barn. Officials said the new “Americanization school” would prepare students of “foreign birth” to attend the regular school later, the San Diego UnionGloria Smith listens during a 95th anniversary ceremony for the Lemon Grove Incident on March 29, 2026 in Lemon Grove, CA. The Lemon Grove Incident was a landmark case against the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District that attempted to build a separate school for children of Mexican origin. Her mother, Judy Smith, 105, is only living person from the group of school children in the case. So on Feb. 13, 1931, Alvarez’s grandparents sued on his father’s behalf. For months neither his father nor other Mexican-American children attended the school, in protest of the segregation, the Evening Tribune The district had violated California law by segregating Mexican-American students. There was no legal basis for segregating students of Mexican descent from other students. According to the 1985 KPBS documentary on the incident, the ruling helped defeat the “Bliss Bill” in the Legislature that would have defined Mexicans as “Indians” so they could be legally segregated. Judge Claude Chambers wrote that students “be admitted to said school on a basis of equality with all other children of said school district, without separation, or segregation in a separate school because of Mexican parentage, nationality and/or descent.”After the ceremony, Roberto Alvarez said he sees today’s political environment as an echo of what happened 95 years ago, with the same kinds of racist attacks on immigrants. He encouraged others to recall the courage displayed by the Lemon Grove families to fight racism.Trying again: Environmental groups want a rehearing on California rooftop solar rulesSan Diego loses population as immigration nosedives. What are the consequences? Its schools are falling apart, and voters won’t pass a bond. Could a little-used tactic help this district?Spring break activities for families in San Diego County for under $6Randy Vásquez pitches Padres past Tigers for first victory of season
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