The Landmark Civil Rights Case Ruling Born in the South of Market
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SF Heritage Media Contact:
Kerri Young
Programs and Communications Director
415-483-4774
kyoung@sfheritage.org
Chinese Historical Society of America Contact:
Nathaniel Jue
Communications Coordinator
408-712-0025
njue@chsa.org
April 29, 2026 [SAN FRANCISCO]—San Francisco Heritage, the city’s leading preservation nonprofit, will join the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) and several Chinatown, Asian American, and affiliated organizations in commemorating the 140th anniversary of Yick Wo vs. Hopkins on Monday, May 11, 2026. The event will be held at 349 Third Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Today a parking lot, the former site of the Yick Wo laundry is the birthplace of one of most consequential civil rights cases in American history.
A Case That Changed Civil Rights in America
In 1885, Lee Yick, the owner of a laundry at 349 Third Street, played a major role in US Civil Rights history when he challenged the discriminatory application of a San Francisco ordinance. In an act of anti-Chinese racism, the city had denied necessary permits to all but one of more than 200 Chinese laundries while granting permits to all but one white-owned laundry.
Yick had run his laundry for over two decades with a clean safety record. When the city declined the renewal of his permit, he stayed open. He was fined, then imprisoned for refusing to pay. Undeterred, Lee Yick appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court and won.
In a unanimous 1886 ruling on May 10, 1886, the Supreme Court held that a law applied in a racially discriminatory way violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection to “all persons”—citizen or not. The decision remains foundational to American civil rights law and has been cited in hundreds of cases. Today, the ruling continues to be tested under increased immigration enforcement under the current federal administration.
“Most San Franciscans walk past this empty lot on Third Street without any idea that this is where one of the most transformative legal battles in American history began,” said Chinatown historian and CHSA board member David Lei. “The Chinese community of San Francisco has never received adequate recognition for this gift. This commemoration is a step toward correcting that.”
Chinese American Immigrants and the Making of American Civil Rights Law
The Yick Wo case was not an isolated one. It belongs to a remarkable, and still largely underrecognized tradition of legal action by Chinese American immigrants who fought discriminatory laws in American courts at a time when they were barred from citizenship and stripped of political power. While these cases originated from the Chinese American community, the results built the constitutional architecture that would later protect all who reside in this country.
- United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898): When the government tried to deny citizenship to a San Francisco-born man because his parents were Chinese, the Supreme Court ruled that birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment applied regardless of race or ancestry—a decision that still defines what it means to be an American citizen.
- Tape v. Hurley (1885): When San Francisco school officials barred eight-year-old Mamie Tape from attending a public school because she was Chinese, her parents sued and won—establishing that Chinese American children had the same right to public education as any other California resident.
As Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas observed, the Equal Protection Clause ruling in Brown v. Board of Education “was not written for blacks alone. It rests on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, one of the first beneficiaries of which were the Chinese people of San Francisco.”
Commemoration
SF Heritage and CHSA will mark the anniversary by hosting a public gathering at the parking lot site at 349 Third Street, on the northeast corner of Third and Harrison, on May 11 from 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm.
In addition to short addresses from SFH, CHSA, and public officials, the commemoration will kick-off a campaign of support for permanent interpretive programming at the site. Ideas include a sidewalk marker and a mural.
“Yick Wo v. Hopkins is a seminal case that established the principle that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects all persons—citizens and aliens alike—against laws or enforcement of laws that is discriminatory on the basis of race, nationality, or color,” said SF Heritage vice-board chair Karen Kai. “I’ve worked on civil rights cases that rest on exactly that foundation, and I know that Yick Wo still matters—in courtrooms, in immigration proceedings, and in cases and policy being decided today. A permanent marker at this site isn’t just about history. It’s about making visible the legal foundation that Chinese immigrants built for all of us.”
“The Yick Wo site is a powerful reminder that communities excluded from power shaped the rights all people share today,” said Kerri Young, Programs and Communications Director for SF Heritage. Historic preservation is about more than preserving old buildings. Recognizing this site as a place of national significance is one way we can make the Chinese community’s contributions to American civil rights permanently visible.”
Endorsing Organizations and Officials
The following organizations and elected officials have joined San Francisco Heritage and CHSA in supporting the effort to establish permanent public recognition at the Yick Wo site.
Organizations:
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Historic Preservation
Center for Asian American Media
Chinatown Community Development Center
Chinatown History and Culture Association
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco
Chinese Historical Society of America
Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative
San Francisco Heritage
San Francisco Historical Society
SOMA Pilipinas
SOMCAN
Yick Wo Elementary School (SFUSD)
Individuals and Elected Officials:
Judge Lilian Sing
Judge Julie Tang (ret.)
Karen Kai
Supervisor Chyanne Chen
Supervisor Connie Chan
Supervisor Matt Dorsey
Supervisor Danny Sauter
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About San Francisco Heritage: San Francisco Heritage is a 501(c)(3) membership organization that preserves and enhances San Francisco’s unique architectural and cultural identity. Its programs and partnerships interpret, share, and celebrate the shared histories, landscapes, and communities of the city to instill optimism, belonging, and purpose. www.sfheritage.org
About The Chinese Historical Society of America: The Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco is the oldest organization in the country dedicated to the presentation and preservation of Chinese American history. Since 1963, CHSA has strived to be a responsible steward of the remarkable narrative of the Chinese American community through education, exhibitions, and programming. CHSA.org
