Wong Kim Ark

WONG Kim Ark (Camacho J)

 

Wong Kim Ark (1873-?)

b. San Francisco, California

United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)

Do You Know? Wong Kim Ark was twenty-one years old when he went to China to visit his parents.

What: Wong challenged the government when he was denied re-entry into the United States on the ground that he was not a US citizen.

Decision: Born in San Francisco, California, Wong was automatically a US citizen.

Today: The 14th Amendment guarantees that all people born in the United States have birthright citizenship regardless of their family's immigrant status.

(Portrait by Jess Camacho, SFSU 2019)