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.

The San Francisco Call stated that she was "the first Chinese woman in the history of the world to exercise the electoral franchise."

[3] 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.

[4][5] At the Mission, Leung learned to speak English, converted to Christianity, and helped Cameron and local police rescue Chinese slaves and prostitutes from brothels.

[7][9] Leung was the first Chinese American to pass the civil service examinations[10] and she was hired to work as an assistant to the matron at the Angel Island Immigration Station.

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.”[6] After losing her job at Angel Island due to her marriage with Charles Schulze, Leung spent many years providing interpretation and social services to San Francisco's Chinatown residents.

[6] She served as an administrative clerk, bookkeeper, and social worker at the San Francisco Chinese Hospital to support her family.

[10][12][6] Beginning in 1926 for 20 years, Leung went to work as a night-shift PBX operator for the Pacific Telephone's China Exchange in Chinatown, a higher-class job for women at the time.

[6] Since the War Brides Act of 1945 was enacted, lifting the temporary ban on Asian immigration, many Chinese wives were joining their husbands in the United States, creating the need for translators.

"[15] In 1911, the year before Leung cast her first vote, California became the sixth state to pass laws that granted equal suffrage, after Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Washington.

[17] California's suffrage laws were passed nearly a decade before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 While working at Angel Island she met immigration inspector Charles Frederick Schulze.

[12] Leung's family of ten and a few other close relatives lived in a cramped two-room apartment on Ross Alley in San Francisco's Chinatown.

[4][18] "She repeatedly defied the limitations imposed on her, transcending barriers, achieving a self-created life of honor, dignity, and service.

Her legacy is one of determined belief in human worth, in a kinship that transcends artificial borders, in the steady, dedicated assault on prejudice and bigotry."

--Robin Kadison Berson[10] Leung was recognized for her contributions to women's history in 1987 in the San Bernardino Sun newspaper.