Basic Information
In 1897 on October 7th in Guangzhou, China, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was born (Alexander, 2020). She was the first Chinese American suffragist and activist to fight for women’s rights and advocate for the Chinese community in America (Cahill, 2020a). Mabel Ping-Hua Lee started fighting for women’s suffrage and became an activist at the young age of 15 (Lee, 2022, p. 671). Lee was the first Chinese woman to achieve higher education and graduated in 1921 with her Ph.D. in economics at Columbia University, during the same year she published her Ph.D. research, “The Economic History of China” (Alexander, 2020). Throughout her school life, she excelled in English, Latin, and mathematics while she was actively participating strongly for women’s rights (Alexander, 2020).
Background Information
In 1898, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee’s father immigrated to the United States and served as a missionary in Washington state before he became a minister to the Morning Star Mission located in New York City, which Lee later immigrated to, with her mother around 1904. While living in New York, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee began her journey as a Chinese American suffragist and activist at the age of 15 when she participated in the 1912 public parade supporting women’s vote (Lee, 2022, p. 671). With over 10,000 attending, she led this parade, and as one of the biggest women’s suffragist marches, it was on the headlines (“Mabel Ping-Hua Lee.”). While she fought with white suffragists for women’s rights, her focus was for Chinese women in China’s new nation (Cahill, 2020b, p. 148). Lee used the conversations she had with the white suffragists to shape her ideas to help Chinese women as she followed Chinese feminists’ work (Cahill, 2020b, p. 148). The collaboration that Lee had with the white suffragists not only helped her ideas and women’s rights, but also the stereotypes that were held against China from the white Americans (Cahill, 2020b, p. 148). Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was not only a suffragist and activist but also the first Chinese woman to receive a doctorate degree from Columbia University in economics and progressive public finance (Lee, 2022, p. 670). She earned her degree with well-known people in economics, Edwin Seligman (1861-1939) and economist Vladimir Simknovitch (1874-1959) (Lee, 2022, p. 670).
Contributions to the First Wave
Lee’s interest in gaining women’s rights in both the United States and China, and the Chinese community in the US, was what led her to begin her route as a suffragist and activist. Before Lee came to the United States, she faced the struggles and obstacles for women/girls to receive an education but, as her family was associated with the mission school, she had the chance to tutor and learn English (Lee, 2022, p. 674). While living in New York, at the young age of 15, she began her role in social activism when she led the 1912 suffrage parade. However, before her actions of leading the parade with the suffragists, she had many articles written about her teenage activism and involvement in the movement by the New York Tribune and New York Times (Alexander, 2020). Throughout her life, she participated in supporting suffragists in gaining women’s rights while fighting for equality for the Chinese and other people of color.
For the New York’s Chinese community, Lee was remembered for her actions of powerful rhetoric and contributions to the movement through the welfare, economic, and social situations for the Chinese (Lee, 2022, p. 671). While she attended Columbia university, she was a part of the Chinese student organizations and a member of the Women’s Political Equality League where she was politically active and helped bring the gap between the Chinese and Asian American experiences together (Lee, 2022, p. 671). Throughout her schooling, she didn’t stop her strong support for women’s suffrage and even took the time to actively participate in the movement. She gave speeches to both American suffragist activists and the Chinese students in order to educate them on the Chinese women’s movement and China’s positive developments to help with the stereotypes that were held (Cahill, 2020b, p. 149). When Lee’s father passed away in 1924, she had taken over a leadership role in his church where she continued her fight, but this time, her leadership role had affected how active she could’ve been. During the time that Lee was in the United States, many Asians and herself experienced several global economic crises and political strife when the first wave of immigration began with the 1848-1855 California Gold Rush and the Chinese Exclusion Act (Immigration Act of 1882), in which one demanded labor and the other suspended immigration for Chinese laborers (Lee, 2022, p. 672).
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act prevented Chinese immigrants from attaining citizenship and voting even after the 19thamendment was passed (Alexander, 2020). Though the act did affect Chinese immigrants specifically, it also affected many other women of color from the ability of voting after the 19th amendment passed. Even though Lee was affected by the act and was unable to become a citizen or vote, it did not stop her from continuing her strong support and fight for the suffrage of women for another 25 years until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act (Alexander, 2020). In 1914, Lee wrote the feminist essay, “The Meaning of Women Suffrage” for The Chinese Students’ Monthly as she continued her support for women’s rights, where she made the point of extending voting rights and equal opportunities for women (Alexander, 2020). Two years later, she went on to give a speech at the Women’s Political Union’s Suffrage Shop called “The Submerged Half,” where she encouraged education and civic participation for Chinese women of all ages (Alexander, 2020). After Lee’s graduation in 1921 for her Ph.D, Lee’s father passed away in 1924, which led her to take over his role as the director of the First Chinese Baptist Church of New York City (Alexander, 2020). Mabel Ping-Hua Lee died in the year 1966 at the old age of 70, it is unknown if she ever voted or gained citizenship, but her actions and participation for women’s suffrage helped many others, such as Chinese immigrants, people of color, and women (Alexander, 2020). Lee’s contribution to the movement helped many women and people of color when she first led the 1912 suffrage parade on horseback and made it onto headlines, which actively help spread the news of women’s suffrage and gaining attention.
“The great mass of the people has yet to be aroused to the necessity for action. The neglect and indifference to women’s welfare in the past must be remedied—Not only laws must be passed in the interest of the future mothers of the new Republic, but they must be religiously enforced. Prejudice must be removed, and a healthy public sentiment created to support the progressive movement.”
~ Quote from Mabel Ping-Hua Lee during the Women’s Political Union’s Suffrage Shop, “The Submerged Half” (Lee, 2022, p. 671)
Analysis and Conclusion
While Lee faced many obstacles as a person of color and without having citizenship in the United States, it didn’t stop her from fighting for women’s rights. She continued for another 25 years after the passing of the 19th amendment in 1920, and while white women finally were able to vote, people of color still were unable to vote (Alexander, 2020). Lee continued her fight until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 to allow the Chinese to be able to vote. To this day, her participation helped women have their rights, even when it was unknown if she ever voted after the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee faced other common obstacles that many women of color do, such as racism and sexism, but also, as a Chinese immigrant. Lee split her work of advocating for women between China and the United States which led to the situation where she was once detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Francisco for months even while she had an advanced education (Alexander, 2020).
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee’s weakness may have been being a Chinese immigrant and a woman, but these traits were also her strength while fighting for women’s suffrage. Her ethnicity and status in the United States helped bring attention to her actions during her activism for women’s rights, but also her advanced education as a woman. During the fight for women’s rights, she received an enormous spread of media coverage due to being a Chinese teenage girl that was fighting for women’s suffrage.
References
Alexander, K. L. (2020). Biography: Mabel Ping-Hua Lee. Retrieved October 12, 2022, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mabel-ping-hua-lee
Cahill, C. D. (2020a). Mabel Ping-Hua Lee: How Chinese-American women helped shape the Suffrage Movement (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service. Retrieved October 16, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/mabel-ping-hua-lee-how-chinese-american-women-helped-shape-the-suffrage-movement.htm
Cahill, C. D. (2020b). Recasting the Vote. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781469659336/
Lee, Mabel Ping-Hua (1897–1966). (2022). In C. Goucher (Ed.), Women Who Changed the World: Their Lives, Challenges, and Accomplishments through History (Vol. 3, pp. 669-675). ABC-CLIO. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX8327300117/GVRL?u=wash_main &sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=568f18c3
“Mabel Ping-Hua Lee.” (2020). Gale Biography Online Collection, Gale. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1650012121/BIC?u=wash_main&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=b2493dce. Accessed 17 Oct. 2022.
Portrait of Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (1896–1966). (1912, April 13). [Photograph] Retrieved October 17, 2022, from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/women-fight-for-the-vote/about-this-exhibition/more-to-the-movement/mabel-ping-hua-lee/