The Fading of Black Discrimination Ward v. Flood – California, 1874 (48 Cal. 36); Tape v. Hurley – California, 1885 (6 P. 129); Wysinger v. Crookshank – California, 1890 (23 P. 54)
“It
is urged that this maintenance of separate schools tends to deepen and
perpetuate the odious distinction of caste, founded on a deep-rooted
prejudice in public opinion. This prejudice, if it exists, is not created by law, and probably cannot be changed by law. Whether
this distinction and prejudice, existing in the opinion and feelings of
the community, would not be as effectually fostered by compelling
colored and white children to associate together in the same schools,
may well be doubted.” – Chief Justice William Wallace, in Ward The Rise and Fall of Anti-Chinese Discrimination Ex parte Ah Fook – California, 1874 (49 Cal. 402), reversed, 92 U.S. 275 (1875); In re Yick Wo – California, 1885 (9 P. 139), reversed, 118 U.S. 356 (1886); Ex parte Sing Lee – California, 1892 (31 P. 245)
“The right of an owner to use his property in the prosecution of a lawful business, and one that is recognized as necessary in all civilized communities, cannot be thus made to rest upon the caprice of a majority or any number of those owning property surrounding that which he desires to use.” – Justice John DeHaven, in Sing Lee
Growth of women’s rights in the Southwest Van Valkenburg v. Brown – California, 1872 (43 Cal. 43); In re Maguire – California, 1881 (57 Cal. 604)
“The
Legislature is not permitted to indulge in an over-refined sense of
propriety – amounting to mere sentimentality – and thus exclude females
from taking part in honest occupations simply because they have in the
past ordinarily been carried on solely by men, and may therefore seem,
in the prejudiced eyes of a more fortunate portion of the community, to
detract from the modest reserve and retirement of the sex … when
competent legislative authority has declared that the pursuit of certain
occupations by females impinges upon public decency, …I think the
Courts can declare the law unconstitutional only when it clearly appears
that indecency and immorality are not connected with, nor a consequence
of, the prosecution of such occupations by females.” - Justice Elisha McKinstry, in Maguire
| ![]() "How Our Streets Will Look Next Year As a Result of the Chinese Invasion" - Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (1880) - courtesy LIbrary of Congress ![]() Chinese in San Francisco (circa 1900) - courtesy LIbrary of Congress “These powers are employed, not to punish for offenses committed without our borders, but to prevent the entrance of elements dangerous to the health and moral well-being of the community.” – Justice Elisha McKinstry, in Ah Fook
“It is hardly possible to conceive a statute more skillfully framed, to place in the hands of a single man the power to prevent entirely vessels engaged in a foreign trade, say with China, from carrying passengers, or to compel them to submit to systematic extortion of the grossest kind.” - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Miller, reversing California’s decision in Ah Fook
“The very idea that one man may be compelled to hold his life, or the means of living, or any material right essential to the enjoyment of life, at the mere will of another, seems to be intolerable in any country where freedom prevails, as being the essence of slavery itself.” - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stanley Matthews, reversing California’s decision in Yick Wo
![]() Clara Shortridge Foltz, first woman lawyer in California (circa 1900) - courtesy Online California Archive and Wikimedia Commons
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