Although often overlooked in the history of school desegregation,[1] the Lemon Grove Case is increasingly heralded as the first victory over segregative educational practices and as a testimony to the Mexican immigrant parents who effectively utilized the U.S. legal system to protect their children's rights.
[5] School boards in cities such as Pasadena, Santa Ana, Riverside, and Los Angeles offered various rationales for such segregation.
"[6] This "new school" where the students were to be separated was an old two room building that came to be known within the local Mexican American community as la caballeriza, meaning "the barn," on Olive Street.
"[9] The Comité, with the assistance of the two attorneys, filed suit against the Lemon Grove School Board in the Superior Court of California in San Diego on February 13, 1931.
Alvarez himself was chosen to be named as the plaintiff because his academic records proved to be a counter to what the school board was presenting to the court case.
[1] The landmark lawsuit resulting from the "Lemon Grove Incident" became the first successful school desegregation court decision in the history of the United States.
"[10] In the decision, the judge ruled that children of Mexican origin could not be segregated under the laws of the state of California, because they were "of the Caucasian race", and laws allowing the segregation of "Oriental", "Negro", and "Indian" children therefore did not apply.The judge also ruled in favor of Alvarez during this court case since he believed that "the pedagogical and curricular segregation" that the board wanted to implement actually inhibited on how these students needed to learn and in fact needed to be exposed to other American children which in his words was "so necessary to learn the English language.
"[11] The decision was not appealed, in large part due to the perceived risk of further financial burdens to the district and negative public image.
On account of having lost the court decision there was some discussion about the return of Mexican (children) pupils but only a spirit of good will prevailed, and it was decided that everything was to continue exactly as it did prior to January 5th.
[9] In 1986, KPBS with the collaboration of an ethnic studies professor in UCSD, Robert Alvarez, made a documentary film highlighting historical footage and interviews in order to portray the actions done by parents and students as part of the protest against the school board.
[13][14] On March 9, 2007, the Lemon Grove School District recognized Roberto Alvarez, the schoolboy who was the lead plaintiff in the case.
"[17] On May 5, 2016, in order to commemorate the 85 years since the court case was ruled a bill was created in acknowledging March, 30th as being a historic date to remember concerning the City of Lemon Grove.
[18] A petition was developed, urging for The Lemon Grove Incident to be part of San Diego County school district's curriculum.
The historically significant desegregation case calls for it to be taught as part of Social Studies and History in all SD K-12 schools.
[19] Echo (Muñoz Ryan novel) tells the story of fictional Ivy Lopez and her experience of Mexican American segregation during 1943 and the historical impact Roberto Alvarez vs. the board of trustees of the Lemon Grove School District had on multiple communities in California.