In 1959 Patsy Takemoto Mink ran for House of Representatives to represent Hawai‘i. She did not get the support from the Democratic Party. She lost. She did not give up. She ran again. In 1964 she got elected. In Congress, she co-authored Title IX, a law to ensure that no one will be discriminated against in education and federally funded activities based on gender. She believed that men and women should be treated equally in education and society. This law removed barriers for girls and women getting into college and into sports.

She also fought racial barriers by supporting civil rights. Asian Americans had been victims of discrimination in U.S. history. The Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese from entering the U.S. and was later expanded to include other Asians. During World War II, almost the entire population of Japanese Americans in the continental United States (over 120,000 people) were incarcerated in camps without any trial. Facing propaganda by Japan that the U.S. society is racist, the U.S. repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943; but immigration quotas for Asians were kept very low. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and African Americans led the Civil Rights Movement to demand desegregation and a more just society. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to examination and revision of discriminatory laws and policies. It helped bring an end to the immigration law allowing only a small number of immigrants from Asia and Africa to enter the U.S. In 1965. A new immigration law, The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, based on a system of preference and family reunification was enacted, helping many Asians and Africans to reunite with their families in America. Ten years after the law was passed, Asian American population doubled, and eventually become the fastest growing population.