New DC mural honors women’s suffrage, Chinese American legacy

A mural going up in the heart of downtown D.C. celebrates women’s suffrage and the Chinese American community as the nation prepares to celebrate America’s 250^th birthday.

The mural of Chinese American suffragette Mabel Ping-Hua Lee is being painted on the side of Chinatown Garden on H Street.

“It’s a great honor, you know,” said the restaurant’s owner, Yeni Wong. “I can do something for the community.”

Lee may not be a household name, but she’s a hero in the Chinese American community who fought for the rights of all women to get the vote.

She joined the women’s suffrage movement as a teenager and took part in a famous horseback suffrage parade in New York City, where she led a Baptist mission. Born in China, Lee came to America as a young girl and became the first Chinese woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics in the United States.

The mural was the idea of Ted Gong of 1882 Foundation as a way to bring attention to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigrants from becoming citizens, as well as the role all immigrants played in building the country.

“And how many thousands of people pass by Chinatown every day, right?” he said.

“They’re on the way to see the Smithsonian, the Congress, or something like this, but how many have heard that Chinese actually participated in the making of America, whether physically — building the railroads — or other parts or scientists or just being you and me, right?” Gong said. “How many of those heroes do we actually, can we tell that story on a regular basis to individuals that come by here?”

Women received the right to vote in 1920, but Lee still was denied that right she fought for because she was still denied citizenship as a Chinese immigrant. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, but it’s unknown whether Lee ever was able to vote.

The mural, when finished, will have this message: Vote, it’s your voice.

“That is the message that we need to constantly tell,” Gong said. “And we need to constantly tell it in ways that are not just within a classroom or even within a museum, but on a wall as you’re walking by and you didn’t think about it.”

The grand unveiling is planned for Fourth of July weekend.