Strong Women by Koeppel Kari

Author:Koeppel, Kari
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781646116867
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Published: 2020-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

Patsy Takemoto Mink

(1927–2002)

Patsy Takemoto Mink was the first woman of color elected to the US Congress, and she used her power to advocate for other women. She was born on December 6, 1927, in Paia on the island of Maui in the territory of Hawaii. Her grandparents came to Hawaii from Japan to work in the sugarcane fields, and her father was a civil engineer who surveyed land for the local sugar plantation. Alhough Patsy’s family was middle class when she was growing up, she saw economic inequality up close on the plantation. The Pearl Harbor attacks took place the day after her fourteenth birthday, and soon afterward her father was taken away for a night and questioned, which terrified her and made civil rights an issue close to her heart.

Patsy was the valedictorian and the first woman class president when she graduated from Maui High School in 1944. She had always wanted to become a doctor and graduated with degrees in zoology and chemistry from the University of Hawaii in 1948, but although she applied to dozens of medical schools, they all rejected her—likely because of her race and gender. She chose law school as a backup and was one of just two women in her class at the University of Chicago. There she met a geology graduate student named John Francis Mink. They married within months and had a daughter, Gwendolyn, not long after.

Patsy soon found that none of the Chicago law firms would hire a woman, so she and her small family moved back to Hawaii. Patsy became the first Japanese-American woman admitted to the Hawaii bar in 1953, but Hawaiian firms also closed their doors to her. So she opened up her own practice and taught at the University of Hawaii.

Patsy soon became involved in politics. She founded the Oahu Young Democrats in 1954, worked as an attorney for the Hawaii Territorial Legislature in 1955, and was elected to that legislature in 1956 (the first Japanese-American woman to serve) and to the Hawaii Senate in 1958. Hawaii became a state in 1959, and Patsy gained attention by giving a speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1960. In 1964, when a second US House seat was created for Hawaii, Patsy ran for Congress and won. She was the first Asian-American woman and the first woman of color elected to Congress, and she arrived just in time to voice her support for the civil rights movement.

Patsy worked extensively on education issues, vocally opposed the Vietnam War (even independently meeting with North Vietnamese officials for peace talks in Paris), and did her best to represent the interests of her dual constituents: women and Hawaii. She notably opposed the Supreme Court nomination of George Carswell, which led to Harry Blackmun’s appointment (he would go on to write the Roe v. Wade decision). In 1972, she coauthored Title IX, legislation that outlawed sexual discrimination in institutions receiving federal funding. This bill became known for its effect on women’s sports, but it also increased women’s representation at universities and in the workforce.

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