Few people in the U.S. know much Asian American history beyond Chinese migrants building railroads and Japanese American detention during WWII. Advocates hope attention to an 1898 Supreme Court ruling changes that.
Why it matters: The Wong Kim Ark case affirmed that American-born people of Asian descent were U.S. citizens — giving protections to millions of Asian Americans, Latinos, and even Native Americans decades later. It's an overlooked example of how Asian American civil rights fights transformed the nation.
