Women’s History in Chinatown: A Walking Tour

Wellington Chen, Executive Director of the Chinatown Partnership, serves as the group’s tour guide. He began by pointing out the small plaque in front of the post office with Mabel Lee’s name. She was the first Chinese woman to graduate from Columbia University with a PhD in Economics and was a leading figure in New York’s suffrage movement. “Even though women in New York State were granted the right to vote in 1917 and the 19th Amendment passed in 1920,” Wellington explained, “women like Mabel Lee could not vote until 1943 because of the Chinese Exclusion Act.” Despite this barrier, Mabel Lee continued to advocate for the right to vote. Learning about her story was a powerful way to kick off the walking tour, which focused on women leaders and entrepreneurs in Chinatown.