I know there's more than a few history buffs out there, so this should excite ustedes: next Wednesday, the Fullerton Public Library will host a seminar on the case of Alex Bernal, the Fullerton resident whose successful struggle against a housing discrimination lawsuit filed against him in 1943 by white neighbors aghast that a Mexican wanted to live among them served as a catalyst for many iconic civil rights lawsuits.
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Three of Bernal's children–Maria Theresa and Irene, the Bernal daughters in the photo above that ran in Time, and Joe, who's writing a screenplay on his father's story–will be the focus of the panel; they will share their father's story and also bring the yellowed album that contains hundreds of letters sent to Bernal by a grateful nation after he won his case. Also on the panel will be Luis F. Fernandez, the recently graduated Cal State Fullerton grad student who just tied Doss v. Bernal to a Supreme Court decision that cited the Bernal case as precedent; he will share a mini-documentary recently done on the case and says he has finally unearthed a copy of the March of Time radio program done on the Bernal story, the first time it will air in decades.
I will moderate the discussion but will limit my braying to opening remarks; the evening is about the Bernals. Show starts at 6 p.m. at the main branch of the Fullerton Public Library. See you there!
