Photo of Mabel Ping Hua-Lee, courtesy of the New York Tribune.
BY: JACQUELINE QIU, WINTER 2021 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
Power in Place, through its digital Time capsule, is highlighting women of color who have played a prominent role in the American suffragist movement. My research highlights the important work of suffragette women of color, who have often been overlooked in history. Furthermore, their racial identity connects with my own personal identity as a Chinese-American female. Suffragette women of color, some with the same Chinese heritage as I, fought for socio-political equality in American society. In distinct stages, I reflect on the potency of this research in uncovering certain areas of history, as well as my personal impact of learning that these important suffragettes, especially those of Chinese descent, were prominent women of color.
12/14/2020:
Today I am starting my research on women of color who have contributed to the suffrage movement in the United States. It is interesting that in the last month of the centennial of the year where women actualized their right to vote, I have started this project. Especially as America itself is battling COVID-19 and trying to heal from structural racism. Yet, I am beginning my research with the genuine intention of connecting my personal identity with this project that Power in Place has begun with the digital Time Capsule.
I have two Chinese immigrant parents, who have tried their utmost to instill in myself a sense of pride of my cultural heritage. My mother speaks to me in Chinese, and I have spent many summers deep in the rice terraces of southern China. Yet, I have vehemently tried to deny this part of myself, as it seemed my New Jersey roots have taken precedence over this part of personal identity. I fail to speak Chinese on a regular basis, and have replaced my passion for my cultural heritage with my academic pursuit of French. However, this part of myself has not disappeared, but rather remains in an embedded complex personal identity that I embody. Sometimes, I take pride in my Chinese heritage, but more often than not, I feel shame and embarrassment as I stumble in my Chinese vocabulary or stay silent as I hear microaggressions directed at me. Each day, I try to reconcile the two distinct cultural identities I have within myself in a society that deems whiteness as the standard. Even as I write, I feel a weight in my heart as I ponder my racial and cultural identity. As a result, I am intrigued at what personal connections I will find in my quest to highlight suffragettes of color There seems to be a natural connection between me, a woman of color interested in politics, and the work done by these women in the past. I am very hopeful and grateful for the opportunity to connect my personal heritage with women that have never been mentioned in my experiences, academic or personal.
History, as it is known, has its hidden voices and the undertones of the women’s suffrage movement is not any different. I am looking forward to a sort of “decolonization” and de-centering of the white perspective in the American suffrage movement. It is not fair to “whitewash” this critical achievement in electoral politics and feminist history, as many figures, especially women of color, have contributed to this incredible movement. To do so perpetuates white cultural hegemony and systemic racism, which in turns manifests itself in heart-breaking moments such as the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Let’s celebrate all women, in the context of the transformative, and eye-opening, year of 2020. Women, especially women of color, have hope; as young girls with skin like mine see the potential for them to become Vice President (like Kamala Harris), engineers, lawyers, or epidemiologists, an optimistic future for them remains. As a result, I see a present where deconstructing the hidden inequities of history is pertinent to the next generations of innovators and activists. I hope to discover women who inspire me, and others, with their past creativity, innovation, and change.
12/16/2020:
Jovita Idár with colleagues in 1914 in the newsroom of El Progreso in Laredo, TX. Her journalistic efforts advocated for women’s suffrage, especially that of Mexican American women.
After researching women of color who contributed to the suffrage movement during 1910-1920, I am so glad that I took on this project. Perhaps it is due to a lack of education about the general suffrage movement as a whole, or the prevalence of being only taught about white women within the suffrage movement, but I have learned so much in the past 2 days in my research. It was astounding to see the amount of women of color involved in this movement for suffrage; however, it was additionally extraordinary that those women were also pioneers in their own respective pursuits. For example, Verina Morton Jones, as a black woman, was the first woman to pass the Mississippi medical board exam and practice in the state while the journalistic work of Jovita Idár inspired the advocacy of suffrage for Mexican American women and the general future of Mexican Americans in America. These women, were simultaneously lawyers, journalists, church leaders, and doctors as well as active suffragists. Their efforts exemplify the concrete testament of the power of women and their incredible capacity for accomplishments that are historically (and presently) only allocated to men. Each woman was able to combine their hope for suffrage with ends that were interconnected to political equality, either racial justice, social justice, or education.
In my opinion, the conjoint ends of racial and social justice, as well as socio-political equality, with women’s suffrage makes the movement for suffrage a potent force for societal change. When many of the main suffragettes in this movement are women of color, their activism is intersectional with their unique identities. This synthesis of each woman's identity with their activism indicates the importance of highlighting their work, instead of letting history conceal their merited achievements. Highlighting two specific suffragettes of color is especially important to me, due to my personal connection with them. As a Chinese American, I did not expect to find any suffragettes who were also of Asian descent. However, the exemplary efforts of Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (1897-1966) and Tye Leung Schuzle (1887-1972) have impacted the manner I see my Chinese heritage. These women, who resemble myself, did not let their racial identity diminish the potency of their political activism.
Mabel Ping Hua-Lee married her activism for female suffrage with the concurrent advocacy for the rights of Chinese Americans in a society that is openly discriminatory against them, vis-à-vis the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. As the first Chinese woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.d degree from Columbia University, Hua-Lee sought to bring her Chinese perspective to her assertion that women must have equal rights in the political sphere. In fact, in 1912, she met white suffrage leaders, like Anna Howard Shaw and Harriet Ludlow, in New York City, to speak about the enfranchisement of women (on a provincial) level in China and its application to the state of female voting rights in America. She was asked to participate, and help organize, the women’s suffrage parade in 1913; it is clear that as she marched in that parade, there was a distinct Asian-American voice in the suffragist movement. In reason of her intersectional, Chinese identity, Hua-Lee often wrote to China, with her involvement in Chinese Students Monthly, while providing valuable contributions to asserting women’s rights in the United States.
Tye Leung Schulze, Courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.
Likewise, Tye Leung Schuzle also had an active role in the suffrage movement as an activist of Chinese descent. In 1910, she became the first Chinese-American woman to work for the federal government as an interpreter for detained Chinese immigrants at the Angel Island Immigration Center in San Francisco, CA. She became a model of what women’s suffrage movement could manifest, on the national level, as she became the first Chinese American Woman to cast a ballot in the U.S. election after women were enfranchised in California in 1912. Additionally, Schuzle’s work in her early career as an interpreter in the Pystebreterian Mission House was directed at helping vulnerable Chinese women against sex trafficking. Her entire life was aimed towards asserting the intersectional rights that are marginalized in terms of gender and race, as she worked to ensure the sociopolitical equality of Chinese American women in the U.S. Her role in the suffrage movement, like Mabel Ping Hua-Lee, demonstrates how the prominence of Chinese suffragists are often overlooked in history.
As a result of researching these suffragettes of color, I have formed a personal connection with these extraordinary women. Especially in reference to Mabel Ping Hua-Lee and Tye Leung Schuzle, I feel more pride in my identity as a Chinese-American woman. It was surprising, but refreshing, to learn about the active roles that Chinese women had in the suffrage movement. It certainly assures me on a deeper level, that I, as a Chinese American woman, unequivocally belong in this country. It is possible for a Chinese American woman to affect political and societal change, which is what I hope to do in my future. These women have inspired me to consider my Chinese, female identity as a force for overarching social change.
Furthermore, I have learned that an intersectionality of gender and race is a strength that augments the potency of one’s cause (in this case, female suffrage), instead of a detriment. While this intersectionality indicates the various ways that one’s identity can be oppressed, more distinct methods that one can push back against those instances of marginalization appear. Especially on an institutional level, the recognition and utilization of an intersectional identity can work to eradicate structural issues, like the existence of white cultural hegemony in the stories we tell. Recognizing female voices of color allows for a more comprehensive examination and understanding of history. Such as in the movement of women’s suffrage, especially in the years of 1910-1920, uncovering the achievements of women of color in contributing to the actualization of their right to vote is a valuable addition to society. Now, we do not conceal these previously hidden voices and actions, thus elevating their importance in the grand narratives of history. In the year 2020, the centennial of realizing a woman’s right to vote, it is essential to give enough the merited credit to these incredible women.
References:
Alexander, Kerri Lee. “Mabel Ping Hua-Lee.” National Women’s History Museum. 2020. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mabel-ping-hua-lee.
“Tye Leung Schulze.” U.S. National Park Service. 2020. https://www.nps.gov/people/tye-leung-schulze.htm
Mayo, Edith. “African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement.” Suffragist Memorial. 2020. https://suffragistmemorial.org/african-american-women-leaders-in-the-suffrage-movement/
“Women of Color and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage.” California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. 2020. https://women.ca.gov/women-of-color-and-the-fight-for-womens-suffrage/
Jacqueline Qiu is a junior at Middlebury College, double majoring in French and Political Science. She is passionate about humanitarianism, women in politics, mental health awareness and advocacy, and French language and literature. On campus, she is the Co-President of the French club and Active Minds Middlebury.