Back in the 1940s, Mexican students across the American Southwest were forced to attend separate schools from their white peers.

The Mexican school was terrible. It was two shacks made out of wood compared to the beautiful white school.

That was Sylvia Mendez, and in 1945, her family joined four others in Orange County,

California to sue school districts over their Mexican-only school policy.

Two years later, a federal judge ruled in the Mendez-At-All v. Westminster case that those segregated

Mexican schools were illegal in California.

But as we marked the 75th anniversary of the ruling this month, many Americans, including a lot of

Latinos, have never even heard of this landmark case.

This story is history of the United States.

History that nobody knows.

California was the first state to be integrated out of all the states, and nobody even knows about it.

They don't even talk about it.

And now, history is at risk of repeating because in many ways, Latino students are more segregated than ever.

I'm Gustavo Ariano. You're listening to The Times, Daily News from the... than ever.

I'm Gustavo Ariano.

You're listening to The Times,

daily news from the LA Times.

It's Thursday, April 14, 2012.

Here to talk about all this is my LA Times colleague,

education reporter Paloma Esquivel.

Paloma, welcome to the Times.

Thank you for having me.

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