Sue Ko Lee

Sue Ko Lee was a Chinese American labor activist and labor organizer based in California. She is known as a leader of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) in California and a participant of a strike against National Dollar Stores garment factory in 1938, which was the beginning of Chinese women fighting for higher wages and better working conditions in the Chinatown garment industry.

Early life

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sue Ko Lee grew up in Watsonville, California as the oldest of 10 children. She married Lee Jew Hing, a Chinese migrant who also worked at National Dollar Stores, and they had two children, Mervyn and Stanley. On May 15, 1996, Sue Ko died at the age of 86 in El Cerrito, California.