San Francisco Leaders Commemorate Landmark Yick Wo Case That Shaped U.S. Civil Rights Movement

CBS Bay Area

May 12, 2026

On Monday, a group of city leaders met at a street corner in San Francisco to commemorate an 1886 landmark Supreme Court ruling that established the foundation of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

It's a little-known piece of AAPI history outside of legal circles, but it's at the center of the political struggles in the nation today.

On Monday afternoon, a commemoration was held at the corner of Third and Harrison Streets, which is now just a parking lot. But almost exactly 140 years ago, there was a Chinese laundry at that location called Yick Wo that ran afoul of local ordinances and changed America as a result.

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