March Fong Eu

March Fong Eu (1922-2017) was California’s first female secretary of state and the first Chinese American elected to statewide office in the nation.
Eu’s school counselor said no one would hire her because she was Chinese. She earned a doctorate in education anyway. As an assemblymember, Eu worked to ban pay toilets in public buildings, arguing that it was discriminatory to charge women when men could use urinals for free. To draw attention, she smashed a toilet on the Capitol steps. She later was elected secretary of state, a seat she held nearly 20 years.