Contact us and tell us your legal story as a Chinese American women
Contact us and tell us your legal story as a Chinese American women
HERSTORY
1927
Martha Lum was denied entry to a public school for white children.
In 1924, a nine-year old Chinese-American named Martha Lum was prohibited from attending Rosedale Consolidated High School in Bolivar County, Mississippi solely because she was of Chinese descent. The Supreme Court held that Gong Lum had not shown that there were not segregated schools accessible for the education of Martha Lum in Mississippi; therefore, Martha Lum was not allowed to go to the school for white children.
The picture directly below shows the two Lum sisters in third or fourth grade in the first row among white students.
It was likely that the Supreme Court decision was not known in other local schools, for Gong Lum moved the family to Elaine, Arkansas where his girls attended white public schools.
Lum v. Rice, 275 U.S. 78 (1927) was effectively overruled by the Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which outlawed segregation in public schools.
1924年，9歲的華人女孩 Martha Lum 想進密西西比州的洛斯戴爾學校(Rosedale School)就讀，但 她的申請被拒。
Martha Lum的母親是位受過高等教育的香港女性，她決定提起訴訟，強迫學校讓女兒 上學，但最後沒能成功。最高法院判決Martha Lum不可就讀白人學校，但可以去上黑人及褐色人種的 學校。
Martha Lum的父親發現各地對最高法院禁令的執行並不一致，所以把舉家遷到密西西比河對岸的阿肯色州的Elaine City，讓Martha Lum及她的姐姐得以就讀白人學校。
1954年Brown v. Board of Education 一案終於判定公立學校的種族隔離政策為非法。