A $10 fine. A Chinese laundry. And a [U.S.] Supreme Court ruling that still echoes today

The most important civil rights case most Americans have never heard of began in a San Francisco laundry shop, with a $10 fine and the men who refused to pay it. The case, Yick Wo v. Hopkins, decided by the Supreme Court on May 10, 1886, ruled unanimously in favor of the Chinese laundrymen, holding that everyone in the U.S., regardless of race or immigration status, is entitled to equal protection under the law.