Mary Tape (1857–1934) was a

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

activist who fought for

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...

s' access to education, notably in the case ''

Tape v. Hurley ''Tape v. Hurley'', 66 Cal. 473, (1885) was a landmark court case in the California Supreme Court in which the Court found the exclusion of a Chinese American student from public school based on her ancestry unlawful. The case effectively ruled ...

'' in 1885,"We have always lived as Americans"
Chinese American Exclusion/Inclusion, New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 8 Dec 2016.
Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association website. Retrieved 8 December 2016 in which the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

stated that public schools could not exclude her daughter Mamie Tape for being Chinese-American."Tape v. Hurley, 66 Cal. 473, 6 P. 12 (1885)"
Asian American Legal Foundation website. Retrieved 8 December 2016

Biography

Early life and immigration to the United States

She was born in

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...

, near

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and in 1868 emigrated as an

unaccompanied minor An unaccompanied minor (sometimes "unaccompanied child" or "separated child") is a child without the presence of a legal guardian. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child defines unaccompanied minors and unaccompanied children as those "who ...

to the United States. She found a home in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

at the Ladies Protection and Relief Society, where she learned English and took the name of her caretaker, Mary McGladery. In 1875, she married Chinese-born Joseph Tape, with whom she had four children. Tape's accomplishments as an amateur photographer and painter attracted the attention of a local reporter, who described his initial disbelief that "a Chinese girl" was capable of these skills.The morning call. (San Francisco alif., 23 Nov. 1892
Digital version online
in the collection Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. Retrieved 8 Dec 2016.

Desegregation activism

In 1884, Mary Tape's daughter, Mamie, was denied admission at Spring Valley Primary School because of her Chinese heritage. The Tape family filed suit against the school principal and the city's board of education. The suit was recognized by the

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

and upheld by the

. The school superintendent pushed through legislation to create "

separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protecti ...

" Chinese schools and directed the Tapes to a new Chinese Primary School in

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

. While Joseph and Mamie Tape are named in the suit, it was Mary Tape who continued arguing their case in a detailed letter of protest to the Board of Education, which concluded with an argument that prejudice is un-American:

I will let the world see Sir What justice there is When it is govern by the Race prejudice men! just because she is of the Chinese decend ..just because she is descended of Chinese parents I guess she is more of an American then a good many of you that is going to prevent her being Educated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tape, Mary 1857 births 1934 deaths School desegregation pioneers American people of Chinese descent Chinese-American culture in California American women activists People from San Francisco Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area People from Shanghai Qing dynasty emigrants to the United States Women civil rights activists