Nearly 70 years before Brown v. Board of Education, in 1885, Mary and Joseph Tape brought a case against the California Supreme Court after the San Francisco school district refused to enroll their daughter, in public school. (Tape v. Hurley)
San Francisco, had a law that was revised in the 1860s that restricted public schools to white children only.
While the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, the result was a “separate, but equal” public school for Chinese students.
Plessy v. Ferguson, happened a decade later. Tape v. Hurley doesn’t get recognized in history, because at this time Asian (Chinese) Americans weren’t regarded as citizens. They were considered only foreigners whereas African Americans were considered citizens by law.
Further Learning:
https://www.history.com/…/chinese-american-segregation…
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