Mary Rose Oakar, 85, First Arab American Woman in Congress, Dies [View all]
Mary Rose Oakar, who in 1977 became the first Arab American woman in Congress and a champion of women’s rights during her 16 years in the House representing a working-class district of Cleveland, died on Saturday in the suburb of Lakewood, Ohio. She was 85.
Her family said she died in a nursing home.
Ms. Oakar, a Democrat who grew up poor on Cleveland’s West Side, was one of just 18 women among 435 House members after her election in 1976. In her first term, she successfully introduced legislation creating a $1 coin to honor the American suffragist Susan B. Anthony, and she went on to help found what is now the Bipartisan Women’s Caucus.
As an observant Roman Catholic, her opposition to abortion rights put her crosswise with national women’s groups, despite her liberal outlook on other issues. She put herself through college working as a telephone operator, and her feminism was grounded in economic parity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/us/politics/mary-rose-oakar-dead.html
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