05/15/2026
On this day in history in 1912, New York City witnessed the nation’s largest suffrage parade up to that time. Organized by Harriet Stanton Blatch, - the daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and leader of the Women’s Political Union, - the parade was designed to be so provocative that it would be impossible to ignore, thus driving attention and support for women’s voting rights.
At 5 p.m. in Washington Square Park, fifty women on horseback led an estimated 15,000 women marchers up Fifth Avenue. At the front was 16-year-old Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, a Chinese immigrant and suffragist, whose participation drew national attention. While newspapers both celebrated and sensationalized her as a symbol of China’s recent revolution, Lee used the moment to challenge American stereotypes and highlight global progress.
As the parade continued, sections of women professionals, educators, and activists marched alongside international delegates and suffrage pioneers. One of the most anticipated groups were the representatives from New York’s Chinatown, including Pearl Mark Loo and Lee Lai Beck (Mabel Lee’s mother) among others. They marched in traditional clothing and carried both the flag of the new Republic of China and banners declaring “Light from China.” The march ended at Carnegie Hall where Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), emphasized that the United States was falling behind nations like China in recognizing women’s rights.
Chinese women’s enfranchisement remained at the center of American suffrage debates throughout 1912, cited by both supporters and critics. Chinese American women strategically used this visibility to advocate for U.S. citizenship and civil rights, despite ongoing prejudice and the Chinese Exclusion Acts (1882-1943).
[Image description: several women on horseback during the New York City suffrage parade on May 4, 1912, taken by the Bain News Service]
Want to learn more about the fight for Chinese American citizenship and suffrage? Join a ranger for a pop-up living history program, – “Voices Without Ballots: Chinese Americans in the Suffrage Movement,” throughout AAPI history month. Please see the park’s event calendar for more information and program times: https://www.nps.gov/wori/planyourvisit/calendar.htm