In May 1914, Lee wrote an essay titled, “The Meaning of Woman Suffrage,” which argued that equality for women was essential for democracy. Lee also gave a 1915 speech to the Women’s Political Union titled “The Submerged Half,” advocating for girls’ education and women’s civic participation, particularly among the Chinese-American community.
Despite exclusionary university policies, Lee received her PhD in Economics from Columbia University in 1921. And, although she was a national figure in the suffrage movement and one of the first women in our country to receive a PhD, there is no history of Lee ever having voted in a US election.
This was in part due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, a Federal law in place from 1882 to 1943, which limited Chinese immigration. It also denied them the ability to become citizens, thereby keeping them ineligible to vote.
