In the face of petitions from neighbors to exclude them from living in the “Whites Only” deed-restricted Fullerton neighborhood in 1943, the Bernals pushed back. Their struggle is the subject of a new documentary, “Doss v Bernal.”

Before schools were desegregated, before racial discrimination in housing was outlawed, and when it was acceptable to ban Mexicans and all non-Whites from communities, this Mexican American family turned to the court to fight for the right to live in the house they owned.

Director Eli Reyna on the left with Theresa Bernal and two of the Bernal grandchildren, Alex and Joe Bernal.

Alex Bernal worked as a farm worker and produce packer and finally started his own produce delivery business, living the classic American dream. He married Esther, had children, and, after years of saving, was able to buy a modest home in Fullerton. In court testimony re-enacted in this documentary written by Judges Fredrick Aguirre and Thomas Delaney, his neighbors portrayed Mexicans as dirty, violent, dangerous people who would destroy their White Only neighborhood. Relying on the deed restriction common in the 1940s that held that no Mexicans or other non-White individuals could buy or live in the neighborhood, the White neighbors sued.

This reenactment/documentary of Doss v Bernal was produced and directed by Eli Reyna, Buendia Productions. This Fullerton historical documentary premiered at Chapman University to an enthusiastic crowd of 500 plus, including Theresa Bernal, daughter of Alex and Esther, now 84 years old, and other family members. It was released on the 80th anniversary of the court decision supporting the Bernals. This Superior Court ruling laid some of the framework for future anti-discrimination court rulings.

This little-known decision in the OC Superior Court was a precursor of what was to come in the next two decades. The US Supreme Court in the Mulkey V Reitman case which affirmed the right to housing without regard to race, religion, etc.; and the Mendez V Westminster Board of Education and Brown V Topeka Board of Education decisions outlawing school segregation on the basis of race.

Watch the documentary on YouTube at https://youtu.be/giUNHQ8Im6M