{"id":7324,"date":"2018-03-23T16:15:40","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T20:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7324"},"modified":"2025-02-28T10:00:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T15:00:28","slug":"womens-history-month-emilie-f-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7324","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s History Month – Emilie F Miller"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Reference Assistant, Mike Rynearson.<\/em><\/p>\n

Emilie Miller<\/a> was a trailblazing woman in Virginia politics. Being the first female senator to represent Fairfax in 1983, Miller took the lead on many social issues of the time. She served on committees and advocated for those within the field of mental health and women\u2019s rights. In her first term, Miller also endorsed and passed legislation that protected the rights of the mentally disabled, and established substance abuse programs in Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Emilie F. Miller Collection, C0048, Box 44, Folder 3, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Miller\u2019s most famous accomplishment is her role in the admittance of women to the Virginia Military Institute. For the entirety of its existence, the Virginia Military Institute had a male-only admittance policy. In 1991, VMI was the only all-male university left in the United States. Miller was able to use her position as a member of the Virginia Senate to bring light to this issue. Not only did she view the principle of male-only admittance as a sexist policy, but the fact that the school was a publicly funded university made the policy unconstitutional. While the case was moving its way up through the court systems, Miller helped pass legislation to prevent policies like these from continuing in Virginia. The law stated, \u201call public institutions of higher education shall admit qualified students without regard to race, sex, religion, national origin, or political affiliation.” The case would finally reach the Supreme Court where the policy was considered unconstitutional, and any policies similar would receive the same ruling. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in her majority opinion, stated that a policy or law such as VMI\u2019s male-only policy is not compatible with equal protection as it \u201cdenies to women, simply because they are women, full citizenship stature-equal opportunity to aspire, achieve, participate in and contribute to society based on their individual talents and capacities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Emilie F. Miller Collection, C0048, Box 44, Folder 14, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University.<\/p><\/div>\n

If it was not for Emilie Miller\u2019s persistence on the issue, even after losing re-election in 1991, it is hard to imagine when this monumental change would have come. If you would like to learn more about Emilie Miller\u2019s career, we invite you to visit the Special Collections Research Center to view her collection.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996)<\/p>\n

Hsu, Spencer. \u201cFairfax Senator Decries Coeducation at VMI\u201d, The Washington Post<\/em>. Jan. 10, 1997<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Follow Special Collections Research Center on Social Media at our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0accounts. To search the collections\u00a0held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail\u00a0us at\u00a0speccoll@gmu.edu<\/a>\u00a0or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to\u00a0schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions. Appointments are not necessary to request and view collections.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Reference Assistant, Mike Rynearson. Emilie Miller was a trailblazing woman in Virginia politics. Being the first female senator to represent Fairfax in 1983, Miller took the lead on many social issues of the time. She served on committees and advocated for those within the field of mental health and women\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,121,339],"tags":[594,592,140,593,60,139,591,356,595,357],"class_list":["post-7324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scrc-interest","category-scrc-picks","category-virginia-2","tag-court","tag-emilie-f-miller","tag-government","tag-manuscript-collections","tag-politics","tag-virginia","tag-vmi","tag-women","tag-womens-history-month","tag-womenshistory"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-1U8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6049,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=6049","url_meta":{"origin":7324,"position":0},"title":"Human Rights: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly","author":"admin","date":"December 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of Human Rights week, SCRC is sharing some items from a few of our collections that relate to either the protection of human rights\u00a0or a neglect for them. The first is a report on the Virginia Council on Human Rights, which was established on August 7, 1987. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fairfax History"","block_context":{"text":"Fairfax History","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=194"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Virginia Council on Human Rights.\" Emilie F. 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The collection contains nearly sixty years (1937-1997) of records from the VNA. Materials include meeting minutes, financial statements, correspondence, reports, and memoranda. The VNA was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nurses discussing patients for the day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/VNA1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6270,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=6270","url_meta":{"origin":7324,"position":2},"title":"Women’s History Month","author":"admin","date":"March 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"March is Women's History Month! Here in the Special Collections Research Center, we are honoring Women's History Month by highlighting the collections and ephemera that document women's contributions to American history. Below, we have a pamphlet from the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, dated from 1910. Here the authors connect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"miscellaneous","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=93"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/womens-history-blog-post-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11470,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=11470","url_meta":{"origin":7324,"position":3},"title":"Archives Neighbors: Visits from Thomas Balch Library & Virginia Room","author":"Meghan Glasbrenner","date":"June 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) is excited to present another entry in our Archives Neighbors blog series. SCRC has recently had the opportunity to visit with some of our neighbor archives in the Northern Virginia-D.C. Metro area. In this series we're recapping these new connections with members of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archives Neighbors"","block_context":{"text":"Archives Neighbors","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=922"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8799-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8799-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8799-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8799-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8799-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8799-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9492,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9492","url_meta":{"origin":7324,"position":4},"title":"Women in American Politics, from the 19th Amendment to Madam Vice President","author":"admin","date":"March 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"March 2021 is the first Women\u2019s History Month where the phrase \u201cMadam Vice President\u201d is a reality, and Kamala Harris\u2019s election to the second-highest office in the land in the year of the 100th anniversary of Women\u2019s Suffrage in the United States makes this year\u2019s celebration extra meaningful. 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Black History Month also examines and highlights the terrible oppression African Americans have experienced during these hundreds of years, and those who fought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital Collections"","block_context":{"text":"Digital Collections","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=557"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Atkins00323crop.jpg?fit=567%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Atkins00323crop.jpg?fit=567%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Atkins00323crop.jpg?fit=567%2C460&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7328,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324\/revisions\/7328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}