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Blazing a Trail to Capitol Hill

Historic Firsts for Women in Congress

Engage in inspiring stories of women who achieved historic "firsts" in the U.S. Congress in honor of Women's History Month. Presented by Carolyn Crouch, Founder Washington Walks. Register for Zoom

Hear about the American women who persisted and achieved historic “firsts” in the U.S. Congress.

Although 50 percent of the total U.S. population is female, women represent only 23 percent of elected officials at the U.S. Capitol. Recall that 127 years passed before a woman won a seat in Congress and it becomes apparent that those first female politicians needed to marshal unwavering conviction and resiliency to persuade skeptical, sometimes hostile, constituents to vote them into office—women such as:

Jeanette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress
Margaret Chase Smith, an independently-mind Representative from Maine and the first woman whose name was advance for the presidency at a national convention
Patsy Takemoto Mink, who decided to run for office after a lifetime of discrimination as both a woman and a person of Asian descent and who sponsored, co-authored, and passed the landmark Title IX legislation
Brooklyn, New York’s Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first to run for president

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