How SF Chinatown resident's historical lawsuit established birthright citizenship

ByJuan Carlos Guerrero and Lyanne Melendez KGO logo
Friday, January 24, 2025
SF Chinatown resident's role in establishing birthright citizenship
Born in 1873 in San Francisco's Chinatown, Wong Kim Ark became the story of birthright citizenship as we know it today.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco's Chinatown is full of history, but none as important as what happened in 1873 in the corner of Sacramento Street and Grant Avenue.

"You see that sign, 'Camera Zone?' That is the location," says David Lei, board member of the Chinese Historical Society.

He's pointing at the location where Wong Kim Ark was born. His life became the story of birthright citizenship as we know it today.

Wong Kim Ark was born to Chinese parents, who like many Chinese immigrants, came to California for opportunities after the Gold Rush.

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But competition for jobs led to resentment.

"We have Asian hate today, nothing like what they were 1870 to 1890, they were murdered, burned out, hung, massacred," said Lei.

The U.S. then passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 preventing Chinese laborers from coming into the country.

"If you were a Chinese in America after 1882, you were totally excluded not only from coming, but if you were here in America you cannot be a naturalized citizen," explained Lei.

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Even though Wong Kim Ark was born in the U.S., his citizenship was questioned.

In 1895, as he was coming back from a visit to China, he was detained at the port of San Francisco.

"They say, look, you might have been born in San Francisco, but that doesn't make you a U.S. citizen. Yes, Black people, white people, everybody else who's born in the United States is a U.S. citizen, but not Chinese. So, he's kept out," said Gabriel Chin, professor of law at UC Davis.

Wong Kim Ark was in his early 20s at the time.

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"He was a cook. He had no money. So, the community realized how important birthright citizenship is for Chinese in America," said Lei.

San Francisco's Chinatown at the time was run by a coalition of community groups known as the Chinese Six Companies. The organization functioned as a city hall for Chinatown then and now.

The Chinese Six Companies raised money and hired high-powered lawyers. They took Wong Kim Ark's the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

"And the question was whether race mattered with regard to birthright citizenship. Are you a birthright citizen if you're born in the United States to non-citizen parents, even if you're not white?" explained professor Chin.

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