Chapter 9: The Changing South

Much like the Southern United States, Orange County had a wide range of ethnic minorities. Orange County, often percieved as a place for the white, rich man is actually a great melting mot on it's own. The 2010 United States Census reported that Orange County had a racial makeup of 60.8% White, 2.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 17.9% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 14.5% from other races, 4.2% from two or more races and 33.7% Hispanic or Latino of any race (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_County,_California).

                                            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SchoolLunch.jpg

Just as the South was a regional leader for the Civil Rights Movement, Orange County also followed in similar footsteps. In 1946 Mendez v. Westminster, a city in Orange County, reached the Supreme Court and it ruled that segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students into separate "Mexican schools" was unconstitutional. This was widely seen throughout Orange County. It would be followed seven years later by Brown v. Board of Education where the "separate but equal" doctrine would be ruled unconstitutional (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendez_v._Westminster)