Chinese Historical Society of America

05/25/2026

CHSA is excited to unveil a We Are Bruce Lee exhibit refresh that features a new wall design highlighting Bruce’s connections to the Bay Area and their formative impact on his life. With historical photos of Bruce as reference, the revamped installation displays many of Bruce’s old haunts and places of importance across both San Francisco and Oakland, including:

• Chinese Hospital in San Francisco, where Bruce was born in 1940.
•The boarding house in Chinatown where Bruce and his family stayed while his father was on tour as a traveling Cantonese opera performer until they returned to Hong Kong months after Bruce’s birth.
• Sunday Sing Theater in Chinatown, which screened Bruce’s film, ENTER THE DRAGON.
• The Oakland home of friend James Yimm Lee, where Bruce stayed after moving from Seattle.
Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, Bruce’s second official Jeet Kune Do studio
• The headquarters of the San Francisco branch of the Kuomintang, where Bruce taught cha cha dance lessons.

The Bruce Lee Bay Area Connection installation pays tribute to the important and influential places, moments, and people from San Francisco and Oakland that helped Bruce embark upon his journey and shape and pave the way for Bruce’s later successes and storied career.

Come discover Bruce and his Bay Area ties as part of this addendum to the We Are Bruce Lee exhibit at the Chinese Historical Society of America.

For more information, visit CHSA.org.

05/23/2026

Announcement:
FREE ADMISSION on Sunday, May 31

Join us in celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month for a free admission day on Sunday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Stop by CHSA and enjoy:

• Unlimited viewing of the We Are Bruce Lee and the Challenging a Whitewashed History exhibits
• A free public lecture: “Chinese Americans and Civil Rights: Celebrating the 250th Semiquincentennial” at 1 p.m.
• Access to the CHSA gift shop

This complimentary admission day is presented in conjunction with the free Cultural Festival in Chinatown happening on Grant Avenue.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

05/20/2026

Author Charlotte Brooks’ book The Moys of New York and Shanghai follows the family through World War I and II, the Great Depression, and the Chinese Nationalist and Communist revolutions. The book serves as a “kaleidoscopic view” of a generation caught between two worlds, illustrating the broader second-generation immigrant struggle for acceptance and belonging.

Program includes Q&A, book signing, and lunch reception.

WHEN: Saturday, June 6, 11AM
WHERE: CHSA Museum

For tickets, visit link in bio or go to CHSA.org.

05/16/2026

We are excited to announce that after several months of renovations to the building facilities, repair of the museum space, and revamping of the We Are Bruce Lee exhibit, CHSA will reopen its doors on Saturday, May 30.

As we re-engage with the public and re-welcome the public to visit the museum and access all of our exhibits, we would like to share some corresponding details to this announcement:

• Museum hours will be on a reduced daily schedule: Wednesdays and Saturdays only.
• Hours of operation on those days will be extended, 10AM to 5PM.
• Upcoming events this month will still take place onsite at CHSA.
• Access the updated exhibit, with particular focus on his ties the Bay Area.

Additionally, the gift shop will resume retail operations during museum hours.

We thank you for your patience and understanding during this transitional period. We look forward to seeing you soon!

For more information, visit CHSA.org.

05/15/2026

Via • For many, the lot on the corner of Third and Harrison streets in San Francisco is just a place to park before heading to a Giants game or an event downtown.

On Monday, around 50 people gathered at the unremarkable concrete patch in the South of Market neighborhood for a different reason: to commemorate the 140th anniversary of Yick Wo v. Hopkins, a late 19th-century landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The crowd included longtime Asian American activists, Chinatown organizers, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu and Supervisors Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Matt Dorsey, Rafael Mandelman and Danny Sauter.

Photos: Juliana Yamada for KQED

05/13/2026

Chinese laundrymen won equal protections for all. Now San Francisco wants to tell their story.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1886 became a landmark civil rights case because it extended equal protection to noncitizens.

05/11/2026

Join the Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco Heritage, and city officials in supporting permanent interpretive programming at the former site of Yick Wo laundry, the birthplace of the one more consequential civil rights cases in US history.

WHAT: Commemoration of the 140th anniversary of Yick Wo vs. Hopkins
WHEN: Monday, May 11, 4PM
WHERE: Third Street @ Harrison Street

Via • 🚙 A SOMA parking lot with an outsized significance ⚖️

The site at 349 3rd Street in SF’s South of Market, currently an open-air parking lot, has no plaque or sign denoting its significance. In 1885, Lee Yick, the owner of a laundry on this site, challenged the discriminatory application of a San Francisco ordinance. In an act of anti-Chinese racism, the city had denied necessary permits to all but one of over 200 Chinese laundries while granting permits to all but one white-owned laundry. 

Yick filed suit along with Wo Lee, another laundry operator, and what happened next was of momentous significance to US civil rights history.

In a unanimous ruling on May 10, 1886, the US Supreme Court held that a law applied in a racially discriminatory way violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection to “all persons”—citizen or not. The decision in Yick Wo v. Hopkins remains foundational to American civil rights law and has been cited in hundreds of cases. 

💻 Read more about our efforts to recognize this signficant site with and a host of community partners and officials 🔗 in bio

05/06/2026

05/02/2026

Join Victor K. Wong, researcher with the Chinese History Project, as he unveils the untold story of the Chinese who built the final leg of the Pacific Railroad from Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay. Don’t miss this deep dive into the most well-documented portion: Alameda Canon (known as Niles Canyon) in the East Bay. Come and see forgotten and newly found photos of the original tracks hand-carved through this narrow canyon; they declare to all the Herculean handiwork of the unseen workers and bear witness to the strength and tenacity of the Chinese builders.

Join the conversation via Zoom. Visit link in bio.