Our Stories
The Lemon Grove Incident By Paul Espinosa Espinosa Productions
Watch the Video The parents formed an organization of mainly Latino farmworkers and laborers to oppose the Lemon Grove School Board’s effort to isolate their children from their non-Hispanic white classmates. Ultimately they decided to file a class action law - suit against the Lemon Grove School Board.
I began working on this documentary film in 1984, with Robert Alvarez, Jr. the son of Roberto Alvarez, Sr., then the 12-year-old plaintiff who took the stand to testify on behalf of his 74 classmates and himself. They had been segregated from the non-Hispanic white students at the Lemon Grove Grammar School. The documentary focused on one of the earliest school desegrega- tion court cases in the United States. The Lemon Gove Incident used a combination of dramatized scenes, documentary style interviews, and historical footage. The film examined the response of the Mexican American and immigrant community in Lemon Grove, California, to a 1930 school board attempt to create a “separate but equal” school for the children of Mexican descent. The goal of the film was to use the power of media to tell stories about common everyday people whose struggles can inspire us.
Watch the Video The primary plaintiff, Roberto Alvarez, Sr., testified and was cross-examined by the school board’s lawyer. The court case began on February 24, 1931.
Watch the Video Presiding Judge Claude Chambers issued his decision on March 30, 1931, ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. Here you will also hear from Roberto Alvarez, Sr. who later established Coast Citrus Distributors in downtown San Diego.
1929 Lemon Grove Grammar School (Photo courtesy Lemon Grove Historical Society)
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