DOCUMENTARY ON PIONEER CONGRESSWOMAN PATSY MINK TO SCREEN OCT. 30

"Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority", an award-winning documentary that chronicles the life of pioneer Congresswoman Patsy Mink, will be screened on Saturday, Oct. 30, at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum.

Mink, the first woman of color to be elected to Congress in 1965, spent her life fighting racial and gender discrimination and left a lasting legacy with her authoring of the Title IX legislation that provided more collegiate sports opportunities for women. She also became the first Asian American to officially seek the presidency in 1972.

Born Patsy Takemoto on the island of Maui to Nisei parents Suematsu and Mitama Takemoto, she attended Maui High School and ran for student body president in an era when girls rarely ran for election in high school. Her ability to create coalitions of support led to her election and she graduated as valedictorian in 1944. After enrolling in the University of Hawaii at Manoa, she transferred to the University of Nebraska, only to find she was forced to live in segregated housing. Patsy refused to allow this situation to stand and organized a movement that eventually overturned the policy.

After preparing to go to medical school by majoring in zoology and chemistry, Patsy found that none of the 20 medical schools she applied to enter would accept a woman. That disappointment led her to enter law school at the University of Chicago with the thought that she could change these unfair situations through the judiciary.

In 1965, Mink became the first woman of color to join the ranks of Congress. During the 1972 Presidential race, Mink ran in the Oregon primary in protest of the Vietnam War. Mink built some of the most influential coalitions in Congress. Her most important coalition was one to support the Title IX legislation which she wrote, prohibiting gender discrimination by federally funded institutions, an outgrowth of the adversities Mink faced through college. In 1976, Mink ran for a vacant Senate seat, but lost to Spark Matsunaga. President Jimmy Carter then named her Assistant Secretary of State. She was elected to Congress in again in 1990, but eventually retired.

The film goes beyond Mink’s accomplishments, however, to reveal a woman whose political journey was lonely and tumultuous. Dispelling stereotypes of the compliant Japanese female, she battled sexism within her own party, whose leaders disliked her independent style and openly maneuvered against her. Her liberal politics, particularly her vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, engendered intense criticism. As Franklin Odo, Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program, states: "Patsy Mink offers a phenomenal political story, because she was so outside what you would expect of a woman, of a Japanese American and of a member of Congress."

The film was produced, directed, written and co-edited by Kimberlee Bassford. "Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority" premiered at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Favorite Documentary. It also won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival; Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival; Spirit of Humanity Award at the San Joaquin International Film Festival; among other honors.

Making Waves Films LLC is a documentary production company in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, established in 2005 by Bassford. Its mission is to produce social issue, cultural, historical and environmental documentary films that advance social justice, strengthen our connections to one another and deepen understanding of the world.

This program is free to National Museum or with admission.