Wikipedia

Mary Tape

Mary Tape (1857–1934) was an American desegregation activist who fought for Chinese-Americans' access to education, notably in the case Tape v. Hurley in 1885,[2][3] in which the Supreme Court of California stated that public schools could not exclude her daughter Mamie Tape for being Chinese-American.[4][5]

Mary Tape
Mary Tape, far right, and family
Born1857 (1857)
near Shanghai, Jiangsu, Qing China
Died1934 (aged 76–77)
Berkeley, California, U.S.[1]
Known forTape v. Hurley

Biography

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Early life and immigration to the United States

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Further information: Tape v. Hurley § Tape family

She was born in Qing China, near Shanghai. Her birth name is unrecorded and she was reportedly an orphan.

In 1868, she emigrated as an unaccompanied minor to the United States. She found a home in San Francisco at the Ladies Protection and Relief Society,[6] where she learned English and took the name of her caretaker, Mary McGladery. In 1875, she married Chew Diep (Chinese: 趙葉, also romanized as Jeu Dip) an immigrant from Canton who had come to the United States at age 12 in 1864, with whom she had four children. The couple converted to Presbyterianism, with Chew taking on the English name Joseph C. Tape.[a][2][7][3]

While her husband ran a successful delivery business,[7] 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.[8]

Desegregation activism

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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 and upheld by the Supreme Court of California in Tape v. Hurley. The school superintendent pushed through legislation to create "separate but equal" Chinese schools and directed the Tapes to a new Chinese Primary School in Chinatown.[2]

While Joseph and Mamie Tape are named in the suit,[4] 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 [sic] [...] 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.[3]

Notes

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  1. ^ He took the name Joe Tape as this was the way his native name Chew Diep was commonly pronounced in America and derived the name Joseph from Joe. Despite Chew being his surname, he ended up using it as his first name, but included it in his English name as a middle initial.

References

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  1. ^ "Peter Palmquist - Mrs. Tape - WIPI Historical Gallery - Archive 9". Women in Photography.
  2. ^ a b c "We have always lived as Americans", Chinese American Exclusion/Inclusion, New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 8 Dec 2016.
  3. ^ a b c
  4. ^ a b "Tape v. Hurley, 66 Cal. 473, 6 P. 12 (1885)", Asian American Legal Foundation website. Retrieved 8 December 2016
  5. ^ "Peter Palmquist - Mrs. Tape - WIPI Historical Gallery - Archive 9". Women in Photography.
  6. ^
  7. ^ a b "The 8-Year-Old Chinese American Girl Who Helped Desegregate Schools—in 1885". HISTORY. 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  8. ^ The San Francisco Morning Call. (San Francisco [Calif.]), 23 Nov. 1892. Digital version online in the collection Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. Retrieved 8 Dec 2016.
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