Yick Who? the Great American Hero

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Author: By James Attridge
• Citation: Vol. 31 No. 1
• Publication year: 2018

Yick Who? The Great American Hero

By James Attridge

There is a movement afoot to name the newly spiffed-up terminal at San Francisco International Airport after Harvey Milk. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. Los Angeles has honored Tom Bradley that way. Phoenix has named a terminal for Barry Goldwater. The Thurgood Marshall wing at BWA is the best free museum anyone dragging a suitcase could ask for. All were locals who had a bigger-than-just-local impact.

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But there are four terminals at SFO, and the time has come to give some thought to the other three, and the legacy of those whose names should stand alongside Harvey's in the pantheon of regular Joes who stood up and undertook uncommon strivings to make America what America should be. I nominate Yick Wo, or Lee Yick, or whatever his name was, because this forgotten soul stood up to power and made good law; good law that made America better for good people.

Chinese emigration to California began when fortune-hunters worldwide came here to moil for gold. When Congress passed the Transcontinental Railroad Act in 1862 Chinese workers filled the labor gap caused by both the superior allure of mining and the Civil War. With their help, the golden spike was finally driven into the rocky soil at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869. The arrival of the railroad meant the arrival of white laborers from the east, forcing the Chinese into "women's work" in eateries and laundries. Four out of five men in California were unmarried at the time, and the Chinese found little employment besides performing...