Boston, MassachusettsBoston, MassachusettsBoston, MassachusettsSuzanne Lee worked in the Boston Public Schools for 35 years, first as a teacher and later as a principal. She led a high-profile turnaround at the Baldwin School in Brighton, improving a low-achieving and divided school into a nationwide model for school improvement. She went on to head the Josiah Quincy Elementary School for 10 years, instituted City Connects program and served as cluster leader for 15 schools. During her tenure the school was named one of the Best 100 Elementary Schools in Massachusetts in 2005.
A young man shows a clipboard to Suzanne Lee during an International Women's Day celebration dinner, held by the Chinese Progressive Association in December 1981.
Chinese Progressive Association founding member Suzanne Lee in 1982.
Suzanne has been a community leader for more than five decades, helping immigrant mothers launch the first Chinese Parents Association and unemployed garment workers secure Boston’s first bilingual training programs as well as working closely with the Boston Foundation to address persistent poverty in the city.
She was lead founder and longtime chair of the Chinese Progressive Association, a founding member of the Massachusetts Asian American Educators Association and served on the Massachusetts Advisory Council on Bilingual Education and the English Language Learners Task Force for the Boston Public Schools.
Suzanne Lee and a fellow member of the Chinese Progressive Association stand at the organization's information booth at the Dragon Boat Festival, circa 1979-1984.
Chinese Progressive Association director Suzanne Lee claps as she speaks at a rally for Long Guang Huang at City Hall Plaza in Boston on June 19, 1985. Partially visible in the background of this image, is a banner in English and Chinese that reads: "Justice For Long Guang Huang." In 1985, the Chinese Progressive Association successfully launched a campaign for justice for Long Guang Huang, a victim of police brutality in Chinatown; Huang was awarded a settlement of $85,000 by the City of Boston in 1989.
Suzanne Lee speaks at a garment workers' victory celebration in November 1986.
Suzanne Lee talks with a woman about the Chinese Progressive Association and elections in Boston in 1988.
Since retirement from BPS Suzanne has been an active member of the Women’s Pipeline for Change and ran for Boston City Council in 2011 and 2013. She is currently a board member of the Chinatown Community Land Trust, BEST and Boston Senior Home Care, she also works as a leadership development coach for the Boston Public Schools, Women Pipeline for Change, and Community based organizations to build capacity of women leadership to continue the struggle for Equality, Justice, and Democracy.
Mel King speaking at an event at the Massachusetts State House for unemployment insurance for workers, with Suzanne Lee standing next to him. December 1989. Photographer: Douglas M. Brugge
Suzanne Lee holds the detachable microphone of a megaphone so that Mark Liu, a young boy, can speak at a rally protesting the New England Medical Center's plan to build a parking garage on Parcel C in Chinatown. This demonstration was held on Oak Street (Parcel C) in Chinatown, Boston on June 8, 1993.
Suzanne was the first in her family to have gone to college. She went to Brandeis and Harvard University and was honored with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from U Mass in 2016 for her 40 years of dedication to bringing communities and institutions together to serve the children of Boston.
Suzanne's past titles:
Suzanne Lee, Principal - Josiah Quincy Elementary School. Date unknown. Courtesy of Suzanne Lee.
— Suzanne Lee
Images courtesy of Chinese Progressive Association records; Northeastern University Library, Archives and Special Collections, unless otherwise stated.