This is a big year for admirers of the late Patsy Mink, the esteemed congresswoman from Hawaiʻi who was the acknowledged champion of Title IX. The federal civil rights law, passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibited sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that received federal funding.
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX’s passage. In May, Mink’s biography will be published, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress, by Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Mink’s daughter, Gwendolyn (NYU Press).
And at noon on Friday, April 29, 2022, the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at UH Mānoa will host the co-authors at a WGSS online colloquium in partnership with Hamilton Library’s congressional archive.
“I’m excited to engage the UH community in conversation about Patsy Mink. Conducting research there was so essential for the book,” said Wu, a professor in Asian American Studies and director of the Humanities Center at the University of California, Irvine. “I spent time at UH Mānoa looking through historic newspapers on microfiche and microfilm, examining archival materials at the congressional research service, interviewing and dialoguing with UH faculty, and enjoying lunch breaks at the food court and food trucks on campus. I wish that I could visit again in person, and look forward to revisiting UH virtually.”
Added Mink, a noted political science scholar, “My mother was a UH alum and a forever UH friend and fan. She credited her UH experience for preparing her to think boldly and advocate persistently. So it is an unmatched honor and delight to have this opportunity to discuss my mother’s trailblazing life and work with interested members of the UH community.”
