Patsy T. Mink has been a major political figure for decades, but only this year is a full, detailed biography of Hawaii’s first congresswoman set to be published.

The 419-page book, “Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress” by Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Gwendolyn Mink, is scheduled to be published by NYU Press in May.

Patsy Takemoto Mink was the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman elected to Congress. She died of pneumonia in Honolulu in 2002 at the age of 74.

Her political life was defined by campaigning against the odds and winning not only because of her organizational skills and capacity to work harder than her opponents, but because of her passionate belief in democratic justice.

In her biography, that burning desire for change is obvious as the authors quote her comments reflected as serving as the Democratic attorney for the Legislature back in 1955.

“I guess you can live long in this game with naive idealism but you soon learn to tolerate compromises and graciously accept small victories on behalf of the principles of the Democratic Party,” Mink wrote. But she called it a “nerve-wracking, demoralizing, disheartening experience with the results falling short of the numerous campaign promises.”

The biography notes that Mink was the first Japanese American in Hawaii to practice law, first to run and win a legislative seat, first woman of color to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first Asian American to run for president.

Besides that, Mink was Hawaii’s and America’s voice for government- funded child care, banning nuclear testing in the Pacific and ending the Vietnam War.

The book explores her first terms in Congress with campaigns on her significant efforts to support the antiwar, feminist and environmental movements.

She grew up on Maui in a plantation society that had her develop “a painful awareness of racial, linguistic and class hierarchies, instituted into the fabric of the educational system.”

When first elected to office and engaging in politics, mainland writers quickly stereotyped Mink. One piece in 1960 described her as “the lovely Oriental doll of a delegate.” Another called her “the cutest senator you saw in Miami Beach.”

Once elected to Congress, Mink found new battles, including just using the U.S. House gym reserved for members of Congress. One official told guards that the gym was “reserved for members of Congress, before realizing his mistake.”

Some of Mink’s political battles became more than just about political correctness. When she moved to regulate strip mining, the coal-mining states reacted with demonstrations against her.

In one of a series of vignettes written by Mink’s daughter, Wendy, the author and university professor, recounts how in 1975 the FBI had what it called “credible information that the head of a Virginia coal company had taken out a hit on her.” Both Mink and her daughter had armed police protection.

Mink in 1976 left her seat in the House to run for the Senate, losing to Hawaii’s other member of Congress, Spark Matsunaga. President Jimmy Carter appointed Mink as assistant secretary of state, and in 1983, she ran for and won a seat on the Honolulu City Council. She unsuccessfully ran for both mayor and governor before returning to Congress in 1990.

Mink’s biographers call the congresswoman “a radical in liberal guise.”

“She embraced the Great Society’s efforts to eradicate poverty and advance civil rights for racial minorities and women,” they write. “She was an islander who sought to protect the waters, lands and people of the Pacific.”

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.