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EIAC Resources

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Every month, the Equity and Inclusion Advancement Committee at MESD sends out a newsletter that includes relevant information on factoids; key figures in diversity, equity and inclusion; local restaurants and cafes owned by people of color in the community; and articles of interest. This is a list of information shared in newsletters sent during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years.

Did You Know? 


Hall of Fame

  • Sylvia Mendez: As the daughter of both Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrants, Sylvia Mendez was expected to go to a school for Mexican students. But when Mendez was in the third grade, her parents sued the all-white Westminster School District after they denied entry for Mendez and her siblings. The landmark case Mendez V. Westminster, was settled in 1947, successfully desegregating schools in California. The case was the first ruling in the U.S. to rule in favor of desegregation, becoming an example for future cases like Brown V. Board of Education. 
  • Fanny Jackson: In 1869, Fanny Jackson became the first African American woman to become a school principal. She was responsible for vast education improvements in Philadelphia. 
  • Raffi Freedman-Gurspan: Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is one of the most vocal advocates for the LGBTQ community in U.S. government and has a history of powerful activism, especially for transgender people of color. Freedman-Gurspan, who is a Latina and Indigenous transgender woman, now serves as the primary liason for the LGBTQ issues for the White House - the first openly trans member of staff at the White House. Throughout her time at the White House, Freedman-Gurspan has advocated for policy shifts supporting trans inclusion and beyond. 
  • Sonia Sotomayer: Appointed by Barack Obama in 2009, Sonia Sotomayer became the first hispanic (and third woman) to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. She is known for her calls for reform to the criminal justice system and her dissents on issues regarding race, gender, and ethnic identity. 
  • Cecilia Chung: Civil rights activist for LBTQ+ rights and HIV/AIDS awareness. Cecilia is a trans woman and has shared her story on many platforms including ABC’s miniseries When We Rise. She is the first transgender woman living openly with HIV to chair the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Cecilia has overcome a lot in her life and continues to provide advocacy and awareness to the LBTQ+ community. Cecilia made headlines by making San Francisco the first city in the country to pay for gender reassignment surgery for uninsured transgender patients through her appointment to the Health Commission.  
  • Beatrice Morrow Cannady (1890-1974): In 1922, Batrice Cannady was one of the first Black women to graduate law school in the country; within five years from graduating she succeeded in having some racist and discriminatory language removed from the Oregon Constitution. She also helped found the Portland chapter of the NAACP. ​

Local Spotlight: Restaurant and Cafes

Articles of Interest

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