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For Women’s History Month, the Spirit will be recognizing pivotal moments in history that advanced women’s rights and led us to where we are today. This week, we’re reflecting on the passing of Title IX in 1972.
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Pictured here, on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., is Patsy Mink, the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress. A champion of gender and racial equality, she served as the chief sponsor of Title IX.
Born in what was then the territory of Hawaii on December 6, 1927, as a third-generation Japanese American, Mink grew up in a plantation society. Originally aspiring to become a doctor, she was rejected by a dozen medical schools despite her academic achievements because she was a woman. She also had to fight for the right to take the bar exam. After passing the exam, she was rejected by every law firm she applied to because she was a wife and mother. Undeterred, she opened her own practice.
In 1956, Mink launched her first political campaign for the Territorial House of Representatives, but her own party pushed her out of the race in favor of a male candidate. She ran again and won, becoming the first woman of Asian descent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. When the Higher Education Act came up for reauthorization in 1972, Mink, with the assistance of Edith Green (D-OR), added this critical amendment to Title VI:
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
On June 23, 1972, those 37 words became law. Over fifty years later, they continue to resonate in the ongoing fight for equality.
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