Porter Broyles

“1948 in the case of Perez v. Sharp, the California Supreme Court removed Catholics from the state’s antimiscegenation laws. Andrea Pérez, a Mexican American, and Sylvester Davis, an African American, had been prohibited from marrying due to California’s antimiscegenation laws.102 Under California law, a mixed-Caucasian could marry anyone, but a person who was white could not marry an African American. Because the Los Angeles County Clerk’s Office considered Andrea to be a non-mixed Caucasian of Mexican heritage, she was prohibited from marrying Sylvester.103 Andrea and Sylvester sought legal counsel from the Southern California chapter of the ACLU, which at that time was working with the Catholic Interracial Council of Los Angeles to challenge California’s antimiscegenation laws.”
― Martha Menchaca, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality

“Schools on military bases and public schools accepting the children of service members also desegregated. Many of these schools had no choice in the matter, since they were ordered by the Department of Defense to integrate or close down. The secretary of defense, Charles E. Wilson, ordered that all military base schools and all public schools attended by military dependents be integrated by September 1, 1955, or prepare to be sanctioned.46 These schools were not allowed to submit choice plans.”
― Martha Menchaca, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality

“During oral arguments, Howard Wimberley, assistant attorney general for Texas, presented the state’s two-class theory, which had been used in previous trials to explain why Mexican Americans were not called for jury duty. Wimberley argued that in Texas there were only two races, Blacks and whites, and only Blacks on occasion needed the government’s protection from hostile whites.”
― Martha Menchaca, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality

“1949, Mexican American civil rights activists sought to challenge the exclusion of Mexican Americans from funeral homes reserved for white citizens. This time they met with mixed results. The governor’s office refused to assist them, yet they obtained the political support of Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, and their struggle received national attention.”
― Martha Menchaca, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality