Tye Leung Schulze

Tye Leung Schulze (August 24, 1887 – March 10, 1972) became the first Chinese American woman to vote in the United States when she cast a ballot in San Francisco on May 19, 1912. She also became the first Chinese American woman to pass the civil service examinations and to occupy a government job. The San Francisco Call stated that she was "the first Chinese woman in the history of the world to exercise the electoral franchise." Schulze was also the first Chinese woman hired to work at Angel Island. She is a designated Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.

Employment

In 1901, Leung was saved from an arranged marriage to an older Montana man by Donaldina Cameron, who led the Presbyterian Mission Home in San Francisco. At the Mission, Leung learned to speak English, converted to Christianity, and helped Cameron and local police rescue Chinese slaves and prostitutes from brothels. She interpreted for girls from Chinatown in the courts, thus becoming widely respected in local courts.

Leung was the first Chinese American to pass the civil service examinations At Angel Island, she would work with Chinese immigrants who were detained for physical examinations and interrogation upon their arrival. When interviewed about her experience working at Angel Island, Leung said:

“Dull?—never. Always sitting there listening to my countrymen. I listen for little scraps about the great new movement over the sea, that is setting them free over there as I have been set free here.”

Suffrage work In May 1912, Leung was the first Chinese woman to vote in a presidential primary election. Leung who was in her early twenties, may have also been the first Chinese woman worldwide to cast a vote. Leung voted at a polling place at Powell and Pacific streets in San Francisco. California's suffrage laws were passed nearly a decade before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920

Marriage While working at Angel Island she met immigration inspector Charles Frederick Schulze. Schulze was Caucasian and the intermarriage of Chinese and white Americans was illegal as a result of California's anti-miscegenation laws in 1913. After the marriage the couple came back to California, but both lost their government jobs due to racial prejudice. They had four children: Frederick, Theodore, Louise, and Donaldina.

After losing his job, Schulze went to work shortly as a special patrol officer and street-car motorman. Schulze died in 1935. Leung was tipped off by a San Francisco girl who was flown to Los Angeles for an abortion that cost $400.

Legacy Leung was recognized for her contributions to women's history in 1987 in the San Bernardino Sun newspaper. In October 2011 the story of Tye Leung Schulze was told through a play starring actress Lily Tung.