She Led 10,000 People to Fight for the Vote at 16 — Then the Law Said It Didn’t
At sixteen years old, she rode a white horse at the head of a New York City suffrage parade, leading ten thousand people in the fight for women’s right to vote. She went on to earn a PhD from Columbia University — the first Chinese woman in America to do it. Then the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, and the Chinese Exclusion Act made sure it never applied to her. So she built a community center in Chinatown instead — a clinic, a school, a home for the people the law had shut out. She ran it for forty years. There is no record she ever got to vote. Her name was Mabel Ping-Hua Lee. What would we have done without her?
Without Her is a short-form documentary series honoring the women history forgot.
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Mabel Ping-Hua Lee’s story sheds light on a lesser-known chapter of women’s suffrage and racial exclusion in early 20th century America. Despite her monumental leadership at the age of sixteen, when she rode at the front of a New York City suffrage parade with 10,000 supporters, her right to vote was denied under discriminatory laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act, which negated the 19th Amendment’s protections for Chinese Americans. What stands out about Mabel’s journey is not only her activism but also her remarkable academic achievement as the first Chinese woman in America to earn a PhD from Columbia University. This highlights the intersection of race, gender, and citizenship in shaping who was allowed full participation in American democracy. In response to exclusion from voting rights, Mabel dedicated herself to community building in Chinatown. She established a multifaceted community center, offering a clinic, a school, and a safe home for marginalized populations who were similarly shut out by oppressive laws of the time. Her leadership over four decades reflects resilience and grassroots empowerment that helped sustain underserved communities amid systemic injustice. Reflecting on her legacy prompts deeper appreciation for the overlooked contributions of Asian American women in social justice movements. Mabel’s efforts to create spaces for education, healthcare, and advocacy resonate today as vital continuations of the fight for equity and inclusion. I personally find Mabel Ping-Hua Lee’s story inspiring because it reminds us that legal and social barriers can be confronted through creative, persistent community action. It also encourages us to research and honor the diverse voices and leaders who helped shape progress, even when official histories have forgotten them. Learning about figures like Mabel enriches our understanding of American history beyond mainstream narratives, emphasizing the power of intersectional activism.