Oral history interview with Edith Green

Oral history interview with Edith Green [Sound Recording 01] Oral history interview with Edith Green [Sound Recording 02] Oral history interview with Edith Green [Transcript]

Identity elements

Reference code

SR 9036

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Collection

Title

Oral history interview with Edith Green

Date(s)

  • 1978-12-18 (Creation)

Extent

.1 cubic feet; 1 audiocassette (59 min., 15 sec.)

Name of creator

Green, Edith, 1910-1987
(1910-1987)

Biographical history

Edith Louise Starrett Green was born in South Dakota in 1910. Her family moved to Oregon in 1916. She attended Willamette University for two years, but was unable to graduate due to financial hardship. She completed her degree at the University of Oregon in 1939. A schoolteacher turned politician, Green actively participated in Democratic Party politics. She represented Oregon's 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1955 to 1974. She chaired the Oregon delegation to the Democratic National Conventions in 1960 and 1968. Green served on the Committee on Education and Labor and other House committees, and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the President's Commission on the Status of Women. She championed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and was instrumental in passing major education legislation, including the National Defense Education Act (1958), the Higher Education Facilities Act (1963), and the Higher Education Acts of 1965 and 1972 that included legislation enforcing gender equality in public education (Title IX). Upon her retirement from Congress, she taught government at Warner Pacific College in Portland. She also served on the Oregon Board of Higher Education. Green died in 1987.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

This oral history interview with Edith Green was conducted by Cynthia Harrison in Portland, Oregon, on December 18, 1978. In this interview, Green discusses her legislative record on women's rights, including the equal pay act of 1963, Title IX, and the Equal Rights Amendment. She speaks about the opposition such legislation faced and how public opinion regarding women's rights has changed over time. She also discusses serving on the Commission on the Status of Women and the report that commission produced. She talks about her impression of the respect for women held by presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. She discusses her efforts toward greater access to loans for higher education and the way that has helped foster the progress of women's rights. She closes the interview by discussing her effort to open the Job Corps program to women.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following license: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

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Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

Languages of the material

  • English

Scripts of the material

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Finding aids

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Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related archival materials

Edith Green papers, Mss 1424, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Related descriptions

Notes element

General note

Preferred citation: Oral history interview with Edith Green, by Cynthia Harrison, SR 9036, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

General note

Incomplete transcript (21 pages) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Specialized notes

Alternative identifier(s)

Description control element

Rules or conventions

Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition.

Sources used

Archivist's note

Sarah Stroman

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