Lee Yick: Equal Justice Under Law

In this lesson, students will consider the actions of Lee Yick regarding the injustices of a discriminatory city ordinance in San Francisco. They will consider ways in which they can promote or fight for justice in their own lives.

Walk-In-The-Shoes Questions
As you read, imagine you are the protagonist.

• What challenges are you facing?
• What fears or concerns might you have?
• What may prevent you from acting in the way you ought?

Observation Questions

• What was Lee Yick’s role in the civil rights movement? By fighting for justice decades before the nation’s focus on racial equality in the 1950s, how was Yick’s effort important?
• What was Lee Yick’s purpose for challenging San Francisco’s unequally enforced city ordinance?
• Why did Yick think it was important to challenge the system?

Discussion Questions
Discuss the following questions with your students.

• What is the historical context of the narrative?
• What historical circumstances presented a challenge to the protagonist?
• How and why did the individual exhibit a moral and/or civic virtue in facing and overcoming the challenge?
• How did the exercise of the virtue benefit civil society?
• How might exercise of the virtue benefit the protagonist?
• What might the exercise of the virtue cost the protagonist?
• Would you react the same under similar circumstances? Why or why not?
• How can you act similarly in your own life? What obstacles must you overcome in order to do so?

• Students will evaluate the injustices resulting from discriminatory laws and their enforcement in the United States.
• Students will analyze an 1886 Supreme Court decision that supported civil rights against the discriminatory enforcement of law.
• Students will analyze methods by which they can promote justice in their own lives.
• Students will apply their knowledge of justice to their own lives.