Edith Green

Edith Louise Starrett Green (January 17, 1910 – April 21, 1987) was an American politician and educator from Oregon. She was the second Oregonian woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served a total of ten terms, from 1955 to 1974, as a Democrat. She is known for advancing women's issues, education, and social reform; for example, she played an instrumental role in passing the 1972 Equal Opportunity in Education Act, better known as Title IX.

Early life

She was born Edith Louise Starrett in Trent, South Dakota. Her family moved to Oregon in 1916, where she attended schools in Salem, attending Willamette University from 1927 to 1929. She worked as a schoolteacher and advocate of education in 1929, married Arthur N. Green in 1930, and left school to begin a family.

In 1939 Green went back to school and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon and did graduate study at Stanford University. She became a radio commentator and writer in the 1940s, but her interest in educational issues led her to become a lobbyist for the Oregon Education Association.