Patsy Takemoto Mink, 1927-2002
Patsy Takemoto Mink, 1927-2002
Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink was a third-generation Japanese American attorney and politician born and raised on the island of Maui. She opted to study law at the University of Chicago Law School after applying and being rejected by 12 medical schools. Refused the right to take the bar examination, due to the loss of her Hawaiian territorial residency upon marriage, Mink challenged the sexist statute. Though she won the right to take the test and passed the examination, she could not find public or private employment because she was married and had a child. Mink’s father helped her open her own practice in 1953. In 1964, Mink was the first woman of color and the first Asian-American woman elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. While in Congress, she introduced the first comprehensive initiatives under the Early Childhood Education Act, which included the first federal child-care bill. In 1970, Mink initiated a lawsuit which led to significant changes to presidential authority under the Freedom of Information Act in 1971. In 1972, she co-authored the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in 2002. Mink was the first East Asian-American woman to seek the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in the 1972 election, entering the Oregon primary as an anti-war candidate.
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Patsy Takemoto Mink, 1927-2002
Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink was a third-generation Japanese American attorney and politician born and raised on the island of Maui. She opted to study law at the University of Chicago Law School after applying and being rejected by 12 medical schools. Refused the right to take the bar examination, due to the loss of her Hawaiian territorial residency upon marriage, Mink challenged the sexist statute. Though she won the right to take the test and passed the examination, she could not find public or private employment because she was married and had a child. Mink’s father helped her open her own practice in 1953. In 1964, Mink was the first woman of color and the first Asian-American woman elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. While in Congress, she introduced the first comprehensive initiatives under the Early Childhood Education Act, which included the first federal child-care bill. In 1970, Mink initiated a lawsuit which led to significant changes to presidential authority under the Freedom of Information Act in 1971. In 1972, she co-authored the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in 2002. Mink was the first East Asian-American woman to seek the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in the 1972 election, entering the Oregon primary as an anti-war candidate.