Lum v. Rice: A Discussion on Asian American Legal History

When Gong Lum and Katherine Wong moved into their new home/general store in Rosedale, Mississippi, they carried along with their merchant goods the hopes of a promising future for their three children: Berta, Martha, and Hamilton Lum. In 1924, the three children were enrolled in the Rosedale Consolidated School which was known for its high ranking among educational institutions within the county. Unfortunately, 1924 was also the year the Immigration Act, also known as The Johnson-Reed Act, was passed which prohibited immigration from Asia. This only reinforced xenophobic attitudes across America that prompted the Mississippi State Attorney General to determine that Chinese children, including the Lums, would not be permitted to attend the Rosedale Consolidated School, a segregated school for white children.

Legal discrimination towards the Lums and the larger Chinese American community was not unprecedented; contradictory expectations of East Asian immigrants were established through the American legal system. The first United States law that addressed Asian Americans was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which prohibited Chinese immigration. This act became the first American legislation to exclude access to the United States solely based on ethnicity. The Chinese Exclusion Act was reinforced throughout the 20th century by a series of Immigration Acts that enforced literacy tests and expanded restrictions on immigration to the Japanese. Social prejudice emphasized the necessity to assimilate with Anglo-American culture for Asian immigrants who sought citizenship. This invitation to adopt the “American identity” entails an expectation of Asian Americans to abandon their culture while simultaneously excluding Asian immigrants which in its nature is contradictory and impossible.

Even those who assimilated into American society were met with discriminatory barriers against citizenship. In the verdict of Ozawa v. United States, the Supreme Court established that the Naturalization Laws of 1790 allowed naturalization to white immigrants and, therefore, could not be applied to Takao Ozawa, a Japanese American. Ozawa embodied traditional American values by graduating from American schools, raising his children with the English language, and attending American churches. Despite this, his conformity to American expectations and the quality of his character were simply disregarded due to his race. This decision reinforced the “alien” status of Asian immigrants which created more vulnerability and suspicion against Japanese Americans leading up to WWII. These hypocritical perspectives of Asian Americans only promoted stereotypes that alienated the community from their own American-self.

Within the obstinate categorization of ethnic communities in the United States, Asian immigrants struggled to align themselves with an American identity. In the verdict of Lum v. Rice, the Supreme Court ruled the government could determine the race of a child as they saw fit, expelling Chinese-American Martha Lum from her local white public school. The Lum v. Rice case of 1927 was centered around the debate of Asian identity in segregated American society. Unable to be labeled as black or white, Asian Americans exposed the flaws of systemic racism. By legally addressing this conflict, the Lum v. Rice case was able to include Asian American voices in the fight for desegregation and educational freedom.

Although the Justices in the Lum v. Rice case did not rule in favor of Martha Lum, the verdict revealed the difficulty of achieving social equality and establishing the legitimacy of the Asian American identity. The bravery of the Lums to challenge segregation in the education system inspired court cases such as Mendez v. Westminster and Epps v. Carmichael to follow. From nine-year-old Sylvia Mendez who was rejected from her all-white school district in Orange County, California to Harold T. Epps, who was refused admission from the University of North Carolina Law School as a Black college student, Americans of diverse ethnic backgrounds found unity in the collective movement for desegregation. The perseverance displayed in these cases generated the momentum of advocacy that would prelude a greater success: 27 years after the Lum v. Rice case was closed, the Brown v. Board of Education case proved the “separate but equal” doctrine of the Plessy v. Ferguson case to be invalid in public education. This revolutionary decision overturned the verdict of Lum v. Rice, desegregating schools across America.

Asian American roles remain prevalent even in modern legal history. In June of 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American man, was beaten to death by two white men, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz. Eben and Nitz had assumed Chin to be Japanese, who were blamed for massive lay-offs in the auto industry, which motivated the murder. The trial following Chin’s death inspired the ratification of the 1990 Hate Crimes Statistics Act which allowed the attorney general to collect data on crimes motivated by prejudice against race, religion, or sexuality. Vincent Chin’s murder also encouraged various ethnic communities to unite as one community against Asian hate. The Hate Crimes Statistics Act ensured protections not only for the Asian American community but also for the LGBTQ+ community and various religious organizations in the United States.

Despite the crucial role of Asians in the development of American society, Asian American history is often excluded from educational curriculums. Today, the public’s perception of the Asian American identity correlates with the model minority myth. The successes of Asian Americans are often labeled as evidence justifying the American Dream. However, generalizing the immigrant experience to various ethnic communities not only sets unrealistic expectations but also invalidates the history of Asian Americans overcoming societal barriers. By considering the various perspectives of United States history and promoting political representation of Asian Americans, the United States could realize the importance of creating an inclusive environment for ethnic diversity.

Jamie Jaehee Jung is a freshman at Brown University concentrating in Political Science and Computer Science. She is a blog writer for the Brown Undergraduate Law Review and can be contacted at jaehee_jung@brown.edu.
Kourtney Beauvais is a junior at Brown University concentrating in International and Public Affairs and Applied Math-Economics. She is a blog editor for the Brown Undergraduate Law Review and can be contacted at kourtney_beauvais@brown.edu.