Join us for a special screening of an educational documentary about the struggle for civil rights for Asians in America in the 20th century and a panel discussion in recognition of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. For today's program, a video documentary from the Leonore Annenberg Institute For Civil Rights examines the case Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) in which the Supreme Court held that noncitizens have due process rights under the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. The Court said that unequal application of a law violated the rights of a Chinese immigrant. (video-- 20 minutes, not rated).
Our discussion host will also review the anti-miscegenation laws in the United States which affected Asians marrying other races. In 1930 in the case of Roldan vs. Los Angeles County, Ilocano American citizen Salvador Roldan was engaged to a Caucasian woman. Since 1880, California Civil Code Section 60 had prohibited marriages between white persons and "Mongolians", but there was confusion over whether Filipinos were considered Mongolians. When Roldan's marriage license application was rejected, the couple petitioned and the court concluded after much debate that Filipinos were members of the "Malay race" and not Mongolian, finding Roldan and Rogers' marriage legal. A week after that announcement, the California State Legislature voted to amend Civil Code Section 60 to ensure that the law against interracial marriage also covered "members of the Malay race." It wasn't until 1967 that the US Supreme Court upheld the 14th Amendment to deem all anti-miscegenation laws as unconstitutional.
Free admission & open to the public. For more information, please call 702-507-3458.
Type: Lecture
at Las Vegas - Clarke County Library
1401 E.Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, United States
Orignal From: Asian Civil Rights In America: Chinese and Filipinos in America
No comments:
Post a Comment