Central Plains Region: Kansas City, MO
Press Release, April 4, 2006
The United States v. Lee Kim Exhibit
Photograph of Lee Kim included in the court file. National Archives-Central Plains Region in Record Group 21, Records of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, First Division, Topeka, Kansas, Law Case Files (1861-1940), Case #3889.
How do you prove your citizenship if your family has been killed and records have been destroyed in a natural disaster? What if you have recently been convicted of a crime? What if your birth country has strict laws against immigration from the country of your parents’ birth?
These were all the circumstances facing one man in the 1930s. Lee Kim also known as Lee Kim Kang swore he was born in the United States. But was he? This was the issue at hand in The United States v. Lee Kim. The Central Plains Region branch of the National Archives and Records Administration has created a small, temporary display featuring documents from this court case. The court case deals with issues surrounding Chinese Exclusion Laws and even the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. It will be on view in the main lobby of the Central Plains Region, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., from April 4 – May 31, 2006.
The Central Plains Region is one of 14 facilities nationwide where the public has access to federal archival records. It is home to more than 43,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 federal agencies. The Central Plains Region houses records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 2312 E. Bannister Rd., Kansas City, MO 64131. It is open to the public Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or visit our web site at http://www.archives.gov/central-plains/kansas-city/
- Also view our Exhibit Brochure
- More On-site Exhibits
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