page_title: Patsy Mink
section_title: State and territorial politics
hierarchical_section_title: Patsy Mink / Early career / State and territorial politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Image shows Patsy Mink, first woman elected to the 1958 Hawaii Territorial Senate and her colleagues
context_page_description: Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink was an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii. Mink was a third-generation Japanese American, having been born and raised on the island of Maui. After graduating as valedictorian of the Maui High School class in 1944, she attended the University of Hawaii at Mānoa for two years and subsequently enrolled at the University of Nebraska, where she experienced racism and worked to have segregation policies eliminated. After illness forced her to return to Hawaii to complete her studies there, she applied to 12 medical schools to continue her education but was rejected by all of them. Following a suggestion by her employer, she opted to study law and was accepted at the University of Chicago Law School in 1948. While at university, she met and married a graduate student, John Francis Mink. When they graduated in 1951, Patsy Mink was unable to find employment as a married, Asian woman, and after the birth of their daughter in 1952 the couple moved to Hawaii.
  When she was refused the right to take the bar examination, due to the loss of her Hawaiian territorial residency upon marriage, Mink challenged the sexist statute.
context_section_description: In 1954, Mink worked to help elect John A. Burns to Congress, though he lost the race. The following year, she worked as staff attorney during the 1955 legislative session and drafted statutes, while observing the inner-workings of the legislature. As the Territory of Hawaii debated statehood in 1956, Mink was elected to the Hawaiian Territorial Legislature representing the Fifth District in the territorial House of Representatives. Surprising the Democratic party leadership with her win, she became the first woman with Japanese ancestry to serve in the territorial House. Two years later, she was the first woman to serve in the territorial Senate. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the Union and Mink ran in the Democratic primary for the state's at-large U.S. congressional seat. She was defeated by Territorial Senator Daniel Inouye. From 1962 to 1964, Mink served in the Hawaii State Senate.
  During her time in the territorial legislature, Mink was known for her liberal positions and independent decision-making. On her first day in office as a congresswoman in 1955, she submitted a resolution to ban the British from nuclear testing in the Pacific. Dealing with a broad spectrum of socio-economic issues, she worked on legislation covering education, employment, housing, poverty, and taxation. She authored a bill in 1957 to grant "equal pay for equal work", regardless of gender, and was a staunch supporter of improving education, supporting legislation to increase per capita spending to better provide for children. In 1960, Mink became vice-president of the National Young Democratic Clubs of America and worked on the Democratic National Convention's Platform Committee drafting team. That year at the national convention in Los Angeles, she gained recognition when she spoke on the party's position in regard to civil rights. She urged that equal opportunity and equal protection be afforded to all Americans. Motions to restrict the civil rights platform made by North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin were defeated and a platform to ensure equal rights and equal protection under the law to all citizens passed with the approval of two-thirds of the party.
caption: Mink, the sole woman in the 1958 Hawaii Territorial Senate
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