Mary Tape

Sued to Fight Segregation of Chinese-Americans in CA Schools

Mary immigrated to the US from China as a child. She was raised Christian and eventually settled down to start a family in San Francisco. When her daughter was forbidden to attend the local public school, she sued the school district in one of the first challenges to America’s “Separate but Equal” policy in the late 1800s!

“We have always lived as Americans, and our children have been brought up to consider themselves as such.”

—Mary Tape, 1892