Gong Lum v. Rice

The US court case Gong Lum v. Rice made it to the United States Supreme Court in 1927. In 1924, a nine-year old Chinese-American named Martha Lum, whose father was Gong Lum, was prohibited from attending the Rosedale Consolidated High School in Bolivar County, Mississippi solely because she was of Chinese descent.

There was no school in the district maintained for Chinese students, and she was forced by compulsory attendance laws to attend school.

A lower court granted the plaintiff's request of a writ of mandamus to force the members of the Board of Trustees to desist from discriminatory practices.

Since the ruling went against them, the Board of Trustees became the plaintiff and Lum was named the defendant in the supreme court case Rice vs. Gong Lum. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision.

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