In 1884, Mamie, then eight years old, was denied admission to the Spring Valley School, because of her Chinese ancestry. Her parents sued the San Francisco Board of Education. On January 9, 1885, Supreme Court Justice McGuire handed down the decision in favor of the Tapes. After the decision, the San Francisco school board established a separate school system for Chinese and other “Mongolian” children. Only 69 years later in 1954, racially segregated public schools were ruled out by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.