Gloria Lopez's Activism Began With The Integration of an Anaheim Mexican School
Updated: Aug 12, 2020
White parents vastly outnumbered the handful of Mexican women who came from La Colonia Independencia to attend a Magnolia School District board meeting on Feb. 21, 1955. The show of force was there in hopes the district would reverse its plan to transfer more than 100 students from Magnolia No. 1, where white children attended classes, to Magnolia No. 2, known popularly as the Mexican school, in La Colonia, an unincorporated barrio in West Anaheim.
“The school board sure handed us a ‘Mickey,’” Carole Ralston, a PTA president who led a petition against the transfer, told the Los Angeles Times. “At a PTA meeting just prior to their announcement, we were told about plans for double sessions at Magnolia No. 1. Why the sudden switch?”
The answer to Ralston’s question? Gloria Lopez.
Read more on my latest OC Weekly Cover story feature out on newsstands now:
https://ocweekly.com/gloria-lopezs-activism-began-with-the-integration-of-anaheim-mexican-school/