Gonzalo Méndez was a Mexican-American civil rights activist known for his role in the fight against school segregation in the United States. He is best known for leading a lawsuit in 1945, known as Méndez v. Westminster, which challenged the segregation of Mexican and Mexican-American students in California schools. This landmark case helped pave the way for the broader civil rights movement. Méndez's efforts were instrumental in the eventual desegregation of schools in California and influenced later cases, including the famous Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. His work highlighted the importance of equal education and the rights of minority students in America.