Jahru Paints Mural of Suffragist Mabel Ping-Hua Lee in DC's Chinatown

Artist Jahru, with assistant Julia Gibb and commissioned by the 1882 Foundation, has completed a new mural honoring Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (1896–1966) at 618 H Street NW in Washington, DC's historic Chinatown. Lee was a Chinese American scholar, minister, and suffragist who at age 16 led New York City's suffrage parade on horseback, earned a PhD in Economics from Columbia University, and spent decades serving her community—yet was denied many rights due to exclusionary immigration laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The mural, set against a radiant fractal-inspired field, aims to assert Chinese American history as foundational to the American story, especially amid rising xenophobia and pressures on Chinatowns across North America. Jahru's portrait style emphasizes character and humanity, and the work transforms a wall into a monument of recognition, with the artist stating, 'We deserve to see our heroes where we live.'