These women educated black students after the Civil War, took in millions of immigrants despite anti-newcomer sentiments, and advocated for women鈥檚 right to higher education when major universities shut them out.

Many female teachers have altered the lives of millions of students, but history has hardly remembered their names. That鈥檚 why, in honor of National Women鈥檚 History Month, 蜜桃影视 created a special series profiling women who helped change the face of U.S. education.

鈥淭here are hundreds of thousands of women in education who have made a huge difference for American children and adults who will never get named,鈥� said Ann Marie Ryan, associate professor of education at Loyola University Chicago.

We couldn鈥檛 tell all their stories in one month. But here are five trailblazing educators we think you should meet.

1. Patsy Mink, Title IX Champion

She couldn鈥檛 get into medical school because she was a woman. She couldn鈥檛 get a job because she had a daughter. So Patsy Mink became a politician, advocated tirelessly for Title IX, and transformed the educational opportunities available to millions of American women. The first woman of color elected to Congress, Mink was a trailblazer who former President Barack Obama called, “a passionate advocate for opportunity and equality and realizing the full promise of the American Dream.鈥� Thanks to her advocacy, 11.5 million women now attend college and 3.5 million participate in sports. Meet Patsy Mink.

2. Ella Flagg Young, First Female Superintendent

She was ahead of her time. She was ahead of our time. In 1909, Ella Flagg Young was named Chicago school superintendent, breaking the glass ceiling for female educators by becoming the first woman to lead a major urban district. A progressive education reformer even by today’s standards, Young advocated for increased teacher voice, child-driven learning, and individual student growth over strict discipline during a 50-year career. She even earned a Ph.D. 鈥� virtually unheard-of for a woman in 1900 鈥� and had a profound influence on the educational philosophy of John Dewey. As biographer Joan K. Smith said, “There was no one who understood how schools ran as well as she did.” Meet Ella Flagg Young.

3. Fanny Jackson Coppin, Post-Civil War Champion of Black Students

She was freed from slavery, became one of the first black women to earn a college degree, and then dedicated her life to lifting up her fellow black Americans through education. Fanny Jackson Coppin was one of the greatest educators of the 19th century, working for 40 years as principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, starting in the 1860s. As the Civil War ended, Coppin made it her mission to educate many of the formerly enslaved blacks migrating to the North. Coppin’s work was just the beginning of the ongoing effort to make sure everyone in America has equal access to education, and through that education, to a better life. Meet Fanny Jackson Coppin.

4. Lucy Wheelock, Kindergarten鈥檚 Hero

It’s known as the most successful education reform of the 20th century, but it almost didn’t happen. Kindergarten鈥檚 survival is thanks in large part to a passionate educator born in 1857: Lucy Wheelock, who forged a middle ground between two diametrically opposed schools of thought in the early 1900s and paved the way for 5-year-olds to receive a classroom education. She also founded her own college. Wheelock called early childhood education 鈥渢he greatest cause that can be served.鈥� Meet Lucy Wheelock.

5. Catholic Nuns, Educators of the Marginalized

They moved millions of poor immigrants into the middle class. They pushed women toward higher education at a time when many were barred from major universities. They ran a nationwide system of schools all under a male-dominated church 鈥� and had an enormous impact on education in the United States. Meet the Catholic sisters, women who, despite low wages and difficult bosses, have worked for more than 200 years to bring education to students on the fringes.

A self-described young, stuttering child, Joe Biden credits a group of women for building his confidence and giving him 12 years of education that would lead him to become vice president of the United States. 鈥淵ou have no idea of the impact that you have on others,鈥� Biden on a social justice tour of the United States in 2014.

Biden is just one of millions of Americans, many of them underprivileged, educated in Catholic schools, a system that would have been impossible if not for the generations of dedicated religious female educators. Working for very low wages, these women changed lives, moving large immigrant communities into the middle class and 鈥� though too often given short shrift by the male-dominated Catholic Church 鈥� opened doors to higher education for women.

鈥淭eaching is a critical part of the sisters鈥� mission of education because we believe, in short, that education can save the world,鈥� said Sister Teresa Maya, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. 鈥淚t empowers people, it broadens horizons, it deepens values, it engages conversation between faith and culture.鈥�

Catholic schooling in the U.S. dates back as far as the early 1600s, as priests and nuns arrived in the colonies and established schools, orphanages, and hospitals. John Carroll 鈥� elected the first U.S. bishop in 1789 鈥� pushed for religious schools to educate American Catholic children living in a predominantly Protestant country. As priests and brothers began creating schools for boys, it was left to the nuns to teach girls.

Elizabeth Ann Seton, recognized in the Catholic Church as the first native-born U.S. saint, started the Sisters of Charity, an order that opened separate parochial schools for families of poor and wealthy girls, in the early 1800s. Some consider these the first Catholic parochial schools in the U.S.

By the middle of the century, Catholics from Ireland, Italy, and Poland began immigrating to the United States and swelling the ranks of local churches, and in the early 1900s, bishops called for every parish to educate its children 鈥� a response to widespread anti-Catholic sentiment, a need to help Americanize the new arrivals, and a desire for an alternative to public schools where children prayed the Protestant version of the Lord鈥檚 Prayer and read the King James version of the Bible.

Most of this work was carried out by the nuns, who took vows of poverty and could teach children for very low wages.

鈥淲ithout the nuns, you could not have had the parochial school system that this country has had,鈥� said Maggie McGuinness, professor of religion at La Salle University.

Catholic schools were also invaluable in alleviating overcrowded public schools as populations surged in major cities, and giving immigrants a boost up the economic ladder, said Ann Marie Ryan, associate professor of education at Loyola University Chicago.

鈥�(The nuns) moved entire groups of people into the middle class, which is a substantial feat in and of itself,鈥� she said.

Still, anti-Catholic sentiment proved pervasive. As Catholic groups tried to obtain public funding for their schools in the late 1800s, states began passing Blaine amendments, which restricted state legislatures from using funds for religious schools. Today, 37 states have these laws.

Oregon even instituted a law, backed by the Ku Klux Klan, that prohibited students from attending Catholic school. The U.S. Supreme Court struck this down in Pierce vs. The Society of Sisters in 1925.

As the sisters fought for their students鈥� rights to be educated in Catholic schools, they also found themselves fighting against the church patriarchy for their own pursuit of higher education. As Ryan , 鈥淭he Catholic Church鈥檚 hierarchy in the USA was worried about the movement toward increased independence for women in this era.鈥� To fill a need for higher education among Catholic-educated girls, more nuns began seeking Ph.D.s so they could lead Catholic colleges for women. But this pursuit of independence didn鈥檛 sit well with their governing bishops, and they pushed back.

For example, in the 1930s and 鈥�40s, the archdiocesan board of Chicago mandated that nuns could not travel outside a convent or school without being accompanied by another woman, and even went so far as to tell the president of a neighboring college that nuns should not show up to their classes without a female companion. They were also not to go outside after sunset.

Mission statements of all-girls Catholic schools reflected the sisters鈥� challenge of balancing what the church considered the natural role of women with many young women鈥檚 desires for independence, Ryan . When the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary established Mundelein College in 1930 in Chicago, they crafted goals that showed these dual perspectives: 鈥�(Mundelein education is) practical, preparing the student for successful achievement in the economic world,鈥� but also 鈥渃onservative, holding fast to the time-honored traditions that go to the fashioning of charming and gracious womanhood.鈥�

鈥�(The nuns) highlighted and equally lauded their graduates鈥� choices to marry, seek employment, enter a religious community, or attend college,鈥� Ryan .

In her research, Ryan found Catholic high school yearbooks that revealed what this opportunity meant to young women. At Chicago鈥檚 Catholic Mercy High School in 1927, the students published quotes from Tennyson鈥檚 poem The Princess: 鈥淗ere might we learn whatever men are taught…knowledge is now no more a fountain sealed.鈥� Sixty percent of Mercy鈥檚 graduates around this time attended college (nationally, female enrollment in higher education was ).

At a time when women were barred from many universities, nuns became their advocates. Catholic sisters established 150 religious colleges for women in the United States, starting in the late 1800s. Before coeducation of men and women became the norm, more women were earning degrees from Catholic colleges than those run by other religious groups, according to . And the nuns鈥� own pursuit of higher education broke glass ceilings: The first woman to obtain a Ph.D. in computer science was a nun: Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, in 1965.

鈥淭hey were role models,鈥� McGuinness said. 鈥淚f you went to Trinity University in D.C. in 1897 and had teachers who had doctorates, maybe you think, 鈥業 could do that, too.鈥欌��

Maya certainly experienced that when an older nun, Sister Rosa Maria Icaza, told her what she had to go through to earn her doctorate from Catholic University. Because enrollment was limited to men, the nun had to sit outside the classroom, near the door, rather than inside with her male classmates. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥楾hanks to a woman like this, I could get a Ph.D.,鈥欌�� Maya said.

Today, however, the number of religious leaders in the Catholic Church is declining, including nuns. From 1965 to 2017, the number of sisters decreased from 179,000 to 45,000, according to the . And even in the face of this decline, the women who join the religious life are still finding themselves under fire from within their own church. As recently as 2012, American nuns were accused by the Vatican for being .

The loss of nuns as a teaching force is one reason running Catholic schools is more financially challenging than ever before, Maya said. Catholic school enrollment peaked in the 1960s and has dropped significantly since then. In 1965, about 5 million children attended Catholic elementary and secondary schools. In 2017, enrollment was just under 2 million. The number of Catholic schools was cut in half, from 11,000 to 6,000, during that same time period.

Catholic schools today have been experimenting with different business models to survive, from the Cristo Rey schools that utilize student work study to help pay for tuition to Philadelphia Catholic schools that have been using tax-credit scholarships and voucher programs to pay tuition for poor families.

And their students no longer come primarily from their local church 鈥� many see Catholic schools as a better alternative to poor-performing urban schools. 鈥淚n many major cities, Catholic schools are a parent鈥檚 best hope for both Catholic and non-Catholic kids,鈥� McGuinness said.

Maya said she is proud of the work Catholic schools are continuing to do to reach the children who need it most.

鈥淭he sisters were always teaching the populations in the margins,鈥� Maya said. Without these women, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the U.S. Catholic education system would exist the way we know it.鈥�

Kindergarten has arguably been the most successful education reform in U.S. history. But it almost didn鈥檛 happen.

Its survival is owed in large part to an educator named Lucy Wheelock. As the 20th century dawned, the movement to expand education to 5-year-olds started to fissure over the most appropriate way to teach young learners. Wheelock was one of the heroes who held all the pieces together.

鈥淭he kindergarten is a big deal: It鈥檚 one more year of life added to what public taxpayers pay,鈥� said Barbara Beatty, professor and chair of Wellesley College鈥檚 department of education. 鈥淭here are lots of reforms in education, but many wither away; they don鈥檛 take. Lucy Wheelock was one of the people who helped the kindergarten take.鈥�

Much of this can be attributed to Wheelock鈥檚 great gift as a compromiser and moderator, Beatty said. Wheelock helped navigate the growing divide between practitioners of the traditional model of kindergarten, adopted from Germany, and proponents of developmental psychology who criticized those methods.

Wheelock was born into a middle-class family in 1857 in Vermont. She graduated from high school and had ambitions to attend Wellesley College, but she didn鈥檛 feel prepared. A visit to a kindergarten classroom changed her life, though, convincing her to become a 鈥渒indergartner,鈥� the name at the time for kindergarten teachers. Instead of attending college, she enrolled in a kindergarten training school. Her diploma was signed in 1879 by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, who founded the first English-language kindergarten in the U.S.

Throughout Wheelock鈥檚 career as an educator, she served as president of the International Kindergarten Union, and she created her own early educator training school, Wheelock College in Boston, which this year will merge with Boston University.

鈥淭he one thing that makes life worth living is to serve a cause, and the greatest cause that can be served is Childhood Education,鈥� Wheelock wrote in her unpublished autobiography.

The concept of kindergarten, a system of learning for young children centered on the idea of play, was invented by German educator Friedrich Froebel. He opened the first school in 1837 and stocked it with play equipment of his own invention, like small weaving patterns and minuscule blocks with specific directions for how children should assemble them. His methods drew a fervent international following.

Kindergarten was brought to the U.S. by German immigrants who began teaching Froebel鈥檚 approach in Wisconsin. Educators then began opening English-language kindergartens, the first of which was founded in Boston by Peabody in 1860. This was followed by Susan Blow, who opened the first kindergarten associated with a public school in 1873 in St. Louis.

But a few decades later, as the study of developmental psychology grew popular in the U.S., researchers like G. Stanley Hall criticized Froebel鈥檚 specific play methods as too didactic and developmentally inappropriate for young learners. While developmental psychologists encouraged play, they felt young children couldn鈥檛 handle the very fine motor skills needed to use Froebel鈥檚 instructional toys.

The science didn鈥檛 sit well with some kindergartners, who had a cult-like devotion to Froebel鈥檚 methods. As educators started advocating for the adoption of kindergarten in public schools across the U.S., tensions swirled over what kind of instruction should take place in these classrooms. and education philosopher criticized traditional kindergarten as being too structured and overly emphasizing symbolism, or learning life lessons through play. Dewey Froebel wouldn鈥檛 have expected his followers to adhere so literally to his ideas. But the St. Paul Globe, in favor of Froebel鈥檚 traditional methods, 鈥渞ankest heresy.鈥�

Wheelock was one of the few who tried to bridge this divide. She brought educators to Hall鈥檚 psychology labs, where he discussed developmental psychology with them. At the same time, she led teachers on a Froebel pilgrimage in Germany to explore the revered kindergartner鈥檚 world.

Regardless of the split, the idea of teaching 5-year-olds was catching on, for reasons ranging from setting children up for better academic success to Americanizing immigrants to lifting families out of poverty. Still, selling policymakers on kindergarten required both money and passion, which is why walking the line between the older, wealthy, traditional kindergartners and the younger, politically active ones was critical. As both president and a member of the International Kindergarten Union, Wheelock co-authored a report that helped carve out this middle territory.

鈥淒iscussions are profitable; but dissension is not so,鈥� Wheelock wrote. 鈥淢ay we not rally for the preservation of the kindergarten as a distinctive type of education practice?鈥�

Wheelock had a captivating personality that helped her forge a middle ground between the warring groups. A newspaper at the time described her as magnetic, with a charming personality. She was calm but gifted at speechmaking. A student of hers described her as having a power over the people she instructed: 鈥淪he inspired everyone and we felt that we wanted to go out and do things in the world.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 easy being the peacemaker, and this work took its toll on Wheelock, California State University professor Catherine C. DuCharme . Not everyone was convinced by her moderation efforts 鈥� and some still called her a heretic for straying from Froebel鈥檚 specific methodology.

But history has proven the success of her work. Other women were able to build upon Wheelock鈥檚 efforts, like Bessie Locke, who capitalized on the power of the media and wealthy donors to widely share one of Wheelock鈥檚 core beliefs: the importance of kindergarten in tackling the cycle of poverty.

Wheelock believed that a child鈥檚 education could lift up an entire family from poverty, and today, research shows the value of a high-quality education for early learners from low-income backgrounds. The landmark 1960s found that children who grew up in poverty but attended a high-quality preschool were more likely to have graduated from high school and landed a high-paying job than those who did not, and they committed fewer crimes.

Although , only 15 states and Washington, D.C., have laws mandating that students attend kindergarten, early education is much more common than it was in the beginning of the 1900s (in 2015, of 5-year-olds were enrolled in school). Still, the way kindergarten operates is very different from what Froebel, Wheelock, or other early educators envisioned, said Diane Levin, professor of early-childhood education at Wheelock College. Play-based learning is far less common, as schools try to implement traditional academic instruction at an early age. But that play-based learning for young students is still critical to their development and even helps achievement in the long run.

Today, educators at Wheelock College instruct their teachers-in-training to support children鈥檚 skill development through play. But this can prove challenging 鈥� Levin remembers one former student calling her after a principal yelled at her for teaching her kindergarten students the alphabet by using a ball.

鈥淟ucy would not be happy that things are like this now, but she also was very much into thinking about how can we work with children to best meet their needs, given their circumstances,鈥� Levin said.

Or, as the passionate, mission-driven Wheelock might say, never give up the good fight.

鈥淭he goal is nothing less than the redemption of the world through the better education of those who are to shape it and make it,鈥� she said.

As Fanny Jackson Coppin sat through her college classes in the 1860s, she wasn鈥檛 just thinking about the Greek lessons or the math problems. As the Civil War raged on, she was thinking about how every triumph or failure in her education was a reflection on her entire race.

鈥淚 never rose to recite in my classes at Oberlin but I felt that I had the honor of the whole African race upon my shoulders,鈥� she wrote in her autobiography, .

Freed from slavery as a child, Coppin believed in the power of education to lift up black Americans. She dedicated her entire life to this mission, becoming one of the first black women in the nation to earn a college degree and leading a school that would educate African Americans regardless of income.

Coppin鈥檚 work was critical at a time of extreme racial tension, as schools serving white students refused to open their doors to recently freed blacks seeking educational opportunities 鈥� beginning battles around segregation in education that rage to this day. But at its foundation, she was challenging long-standing beliefs inculcated by whites about the intellectual inferiority of blacks.

鈥淔or it was one of the strongest arguments in the defense of slavery, that the Negro was an inferior creation; formed by the Almighty for just the work he was doing,鈥� Coppin . 鈥淚t is said that John C. Calhoun made the remark that if there could be found a Negro that could conjugate a Greek verb, he would give up all his preconceived ideas of the inferiority of the Negro.鈥�

Coppin was born into slavery in 1837 in Washington, D.C. When she was still a child, her aunt bought her freedom for $125 and sent her to live with another aunt, first in Massachusetts, then in Rhode Island. After attending Rhode Island State Normal School and taking instruction from a private tutor, Coppin enrolled in 1860 at Oberlin College in Ohio 鈥� one of the first white schools to accept black students 鈥� so she could become a teacher. Her aunt and her church helped pay for her tuition.

At school, Coppin volunteered to teach literacy classes for blacks newly freed from slavery. For her, this work took on a religious devotion.

鈥淚 felt that for such people to have been kept in the darkness of ignorance was an unpardonable sin,鈥� she .

When Coppin graduated in 1865, she was among the first wave of black women to obtain a college degree in the United States. (Mary Jane Patterson, a fellow Oberlin alum, is , in 1862.)

Even as a student teacher, Coppin was renowned for her abilities, said Linda Perkins, an associate professor at Claremont Graduate University. Coppin was recruited before graduation to teach at the Institute for Colored Youth, a school run by Quakers in Philadelphia.

鈥淪he was able to make students feel that no matter what level they were, that they could learn,鈥� Perkins said.

After just four years, Coppin was promoted to principal, a position she held for nearly 40 years. During that time, she eliminated tuition so poor students, rather than just children of Philadelphia鈥檚 wealthy families, could attend. When the Quakers wouldn鈥檛 approve construction of a dormitory, she used her own money to pay rent for students who had recently moved to the city from the South.

Racial tensions were growing in Philadelphia during this time, as both freed blacks and immigrants moved into the city. One of Coppin鈥檚 educators, O.V. Catto, was killed when he and two other men attempted to vote. This underlined Coppin鈥檚 mission to educate her students to participate in civic society and value racial solidarity. Once, Coppin told her student teachers that they should be willing to take a pay cut if it meant being able to reach the most impoverished students, and she added trade classes to the school to give her students more robust opportunities.

鈥淏lack people understood that education was power,鈥� Perkins said. 鈥淓ducation was the route to freedom. That鈥檚 the one thing white people can鈥檛 take away from you.鈥�

Coppin retired in 1902, and at age 65 she began doing missionary work in Cape Town, South Africa, with her husband. Eventually, she returned to Philadelphia before her death in 1913.

Perkins interviewed Coppin鈥檚 last living student, who told Perkins that the students in Coppin鈥檚 care felt respect for their principal every time she walked into a room. 鈥淪he impacted everybody she taught,鈥� Perkins said. 鈥淧eople were in awe of this woman because of her dedication not only to the field of education but to her race. She believed education would free black people.鈥�

On July 30, 1909, The New York Times鈥檚 front page included stories about President William Howard Taft鈥檚 tariff bill and a storm that interrupted a Wright Brothers flight. But squished between these two articles was another, just as newsworthy, headline: 鈥淎 Woman Head of Schools.鈥� It was a story from Chicago, about the first woman selected as superintendent of the city鈥檚 school district.

That woman was Ella Flagg Young, and she was the first female superintendent not only of Chicago, but of any major urban public school district in the nation. A progressive education reformer even by today鈥檚 standards, Young broke glass ceilings for women in education, advocated for student and teacher voices, and inspired the works of education philosopher John Dewey 鈥� before she herself became lost to history.

鈥淥ne of the tragedies of her story is that a lot of her impacts have either been destroyed in some ways or other people have been given credit for her work,鈥� said Jackie Blount, a professor at Ohio State University who is working on a book about Young. 鈥淚 want people to know about her.鈥�

Born in 1845 in Buffalo, New York, Young was deemed by her mother to be too fragile to attend school, so she taught herself to read by listening to adults read newspapers aloud, memorizing what they said, and matching their words to the text. She entered grammar school at age 11, and soon after her family relocated to Chicago, she took a teachers examination and passed. But she was only 15, too young to receive a teaching certificate, so she enrolled in a teacher training program.

Her mother thought she wouldn鈥檛 be good at teaching children, so Young invented a sort of teacher training regimen for herself, observing classroom teachers at their schools once a week during her last year to see if she could learn.

She graduated in 1862 and started teaching 鈥� and a few years later, when Chicago started its first teacher training laboratory school, she was asked to help lead it.

Young worked in virtually every aspect of public education, from teacher to principal to teacher trainer to superintendent to school board member. She even earned her doctorate, something many male superintendents didn鈥檛 have. At the time she got her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, in 1900, only about 5 percent of doctorates nationwide were conferred on women.

For someone so studious, though, Young had an amazing and often unexpected sense of humor, Blount said. She was a great speaker, charismatic. But beneath the surface, Young struggled with the grief of having lost all her family and her husband before she was 30 years old, which may have contributed to the dedication with which she devoted herself to education.

鈥淭here was no one who understood how schools ran as well as she did,鈥� said Joan K. Smith, professor emerita at the University of Oklahoma.

Still, when Young interviewed for the superintendent job in 1909, at age 64, her gender was a hurdle for the school board. In , Smith detailed the challenges. 鈥淭wo board members said they knew Mrs. Young was qualified but doubted her 鈥榮trength鈥� for such a position. One of them said, 鈥業 only wish Mrs. Young were a man,鈥� 鈥� Smith . 鈥淎nother said he did not favor giving the job to a woman 鈥榖ecause they are almost invariably influenced by sentiment rather than cold judgment.鈥� 鈥�

At the time, women were surging into teaching jobs while men shifted toward administrator positions. (Not much has changed: A century after Young got the superintendent job, about 13 percent of U.S. districts are led by women, even though 72 percent of educators are female, according to the , and a recent found that 82 percent of female superintendents felt their male-dominated school boards did not see them as strong managers and 76 percent felt they weren鈥檛 viewed as capable of handling the district鈥檚 money.)

So how did she do it? Faced with 27 candidates for superintendent, the 1909 Chicago School Board couldn鈥檛 agree on anyone but Young, who was unanimously selected in a second-round vote. The buzz of reporters in the hallway after her interview was so great that Young eventually told them she was more interested in supper than the superintendency, Smith .

Young鈥檚 vision of education was very different from the prevailing view at the time 鈥� and from many modern-day standards. As a principal and as superintendent, she advocated for increased teacher voice and instituted teacher councils, which had influence over decisions made by school administrators. She pushed for teachers to have higher wages and greater control over their curriculum design.

She even became the first female president of the National Education Association 鈥� in 1910, when she was superintendent.

鈥淚t is very rare, I think, that one finds a woman who will do as much for other women as Mrs. Young did for her teachers,鈥� one teacher of Young when she was still a principal.

Young was also a proponent of what today might be called character education and student-driven learning: 鈥渙ur being鈥檚 end and aim is the evolution of a character which, through thinking of the right and acting for the right, shall make for right conduct, rectitude, righteousness,鈥� Young wrote. She was also a discipline reformer, cautioning against teachers who were too focused on obedience and punishment and less concerned with supporting individual student growth.

A pragmatist, Young believed that any student, regardless of ability, should be able to learn. She wasn鈥檛 a fan of dividing students into grades as much as she was of teachers building relationships with children to tailor their instruction. She wrote a book called Isolation in the Schools, bemoaning a lack of collaboration among teachers, administrators, and students.

But Young鈥檚 innovations met resistance from a male-dominated, centralized administrative culture that sought standardization and more control over the schools. It was a turbulent time for Chicago schools already, as the city saw an influx of immigrants that boosted the student population. But the tension between the way she and the board thought the schools should be run eventually drove her out of the superintendency after six years, Blount said, and into retirement before she died of pneumonia three years later, in 1918.

The impact of Young鈥檚 50-plus years in education can still be felt in 2018. Young studied with education philosopher John Dewey during her time at the University of Chicago, and her vast experience as an educator inspired his thinking about schooling and pedagogy.

In fact, Smith first encountered Young as a footnote in Dewey鈥檚 work.

鈥淚 was constantly getting ideas from her,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淢ore times than I could well say, I didn鈥檛 see the meaning or force of some favorite conception of my own till Mrs. Young had given it back to me.鈥�

His daughter, Jane Dewey, added that Young was one of the wisest people Dewey had ever met and that her practical experience helped form his ideas about democracy in schools. Dewey would go on to write Democracy and Education, which emphasized that education is necessary for an informed citizenry and healthy governance. He also supported character development and student-driven learning and inquiry, as Young did.

Even today, the public education system could learn something from Young鈥檚 vision, Blount said.

鈥淎 lot of people think there鈥檚 a sort of inevitability that schools have to be driven by standardization and centralized power,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n fact, Ella Flagg Young鈥檚 story proves that a really large, complicated system can also work really well if there鈥檚 an entirely different kind of leadership that values unique contributions of every single member and creativity and intelligence and people working together in community because they want to rather than because they have to.鈥�

She applied to a dozen medical schools, but she was denied admission because she was a woman. She earned a law degree instead, but firms refused to hire her because she had a daughter and employers said she couldn鈥檛 work long hours. So she became a politician and wrote legislation that changed the politics of gender, knocking down barriers to educational opportunity for millions of women.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 start off wanting to be in politics,鈥� Patsy Takemoto Mink once . 鈥淣ot being able to get a job from anybody changed things.鈥�

And Mink changed a lot of things. The first woman of color elected to Congress, she co-authored Title IX, which mandated equal treatment for women and men in education. After 45 years, the law has led to dramatic progress: Now women attend college, compared with 8.9 million men. Before Title IX, just 300,000 girls nationwide participated in high school sports every year, versus the聽聽who do today. The fields of medicine and law that first excluded Mink are now almost equal in their enrollment of male and female students.

鈥淪he changed the course of history 鈥� and how many people can we say that about?鈥� Rep. Rosa DeLauro after Mink鈥檚 death in 2002.

Mink served 13 sessions in the House of Representatives as a congresswoman from Hawaii, first from 1965 to 1977 and then from 1990 until her death at age 74. In between, after a failed run for Senate, she worked for the Carter administration, ran for U.S. president in the Oregon primary, worked for a liberal political lobbying organization, and served on the Honolulu City Council. She returned to Congress in 1990.

After her success with Title IX, she helped pass the Women鈥檚 Educational Equity Act in 1974, which provided funding to prevent discrimination in education programs. For example, schools could use the money to replace textbooks riddled with stereotypes pushing men toward careers in medicine and engineering while encouraging women to remain in the home.

鈥淪o long as any part of our society adheres to a sexist notion that men should do certain things and women should do certain things and then begin to inculcate our babies with these certain notions through curriculum development and so forth, then we鈥檒l never be rid of the basic causes of sex discrimination,鈥� Mink said in in 1974.

She also supported legislation on bilingual education, child care, student loans, and support for students with disabilities.

For many, Mink鈥檚 life was an example of how to kick down doors, regardless of how many times they were slammed in her face. When law firms in Honolulu refused to hire her because she was a mother, she started her own private practice, accepting a fish as payment for her first case. A political newcomer, she won her first race for a Hawaiian territorial House seat by walking through neighborhoods, knocking on doors, and talking to constituents 鈥� an uncommon tactic for 1956. Even after Title IX was signed into law, Mink had to fight against subsequent bills that tried to undermine it in the areas it applied to, like athletics.

It wasn鈥檛 easy to be an Asian-American female politician, either. When Mink first arrived in Washington, she was heralded by the press as 鈥渄iminutive鈥� and 鈥渆xotic.鈥� She and her female colleagues were banned from House facilities, like the gym, or dismissed with about 鈥渞aging hormonal imbalance[s].鈥� She was accused of neglecting her child for her career.

But as people soon learned, Mink fought back.

鈥淚 think that鈥檚 the most offensive question that鈥檚 ever asked,鈥� she said calmly, after a reporter questioned how she balanced being a married congresswoman. 鈥淚鈥檝e never heard anyone ask a man, 鈥楬ow has it been on your family?鈥� 鈥�

When President George H.W. Bush vetoed the Civil Rights Act in 1990, she harshly criticized him, saying he walked back on his campaign promise. She called on voters to judge him by this vote, which was 鈥渁n affront to all of us, men and women, in the workplace,鈥� .

And despite all the progress Title IX had made, Mink was quick to acknowledge when she returned to Congress in 1990 that much work was still needed toward achieving equality.

鈥淚 have been away from the Congress for about 14 years, and I am astonished to find that in the first month of my return here … we are still debating the question of what equality really means in this country,鈥� .

That reality isn鈥檛 too far from the one facing women聽today, advocates said. 鈥淓ven though now women have supposedly equal access to educational opportunities, they still earn less than men regardless of educational attainment, and women, in fact, have to attain a Ph.D. 鈥� basically the highest degree possible in academia 鈥� in order to match the lifetime earnings of men who have bachelor鈥檚 degrees,鈥� said Lenora Lapidus, director of the ACLU Women鈥檚 Rights Project.

Still, for women seeking to attain positions of power overwhelmingly held by men, Mink is an icon. Mazie Hirono, now a U.S. senator, how Mink encouraged her as a young politician, and when Hirono was first elected to the House of Representatives, she cast her first vote for Nancy Pelosi to be speaker. Hirono dedicated her vote to Mink, an announcement that caused Pelosi to turn around in her chair and smile: Mink had told Pelosi that she would one day become speaker. And Pelosi did, the first woman to lead the U.S. House of Representatives.

鈥淣o matter how many times she was excluded from traditionally male spheres, this did not hold back Patsy 鈥� inspiring me and many others along the way through her perseverance and risk-taking,鈥� Hirono wrote in an essay for .

Title IX was eventually renamed the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, and in 2014, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Mink 鈥� his former congresswoman 鈥� the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation鈥檚 highest civilian honor.

鈥淓very girl in Little League, every woman playing college sports, and every parent, including Michelle and myself, who watches their daughter on a field or in the classroom, is forever grateful to the late Patsy Takemoto Mink,鈥� . 鈥淧atsy was a passionate advocate for opportunity and equality and realizing the full promise of the American Dream.鈥�