1.
(a)This Act may be cited as the National Women’s Rights History Project
Act
.
(b)Congress
finds the following:
(1)The women’s rights
movement is one of the three great protest traditions in United States history,
sharing that status with the struggle for racial equality and the labor
movement. These movements challenged Americans to consider the essential
meaning of the Declaration of Independence: that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to
secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed.
.
(2)New York State in
the nineteenth century was at the cutting edge of these movements, including
the womans’ rights movement. On July 19, 1848, a group of activists including
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, Jane Hunt, and Mary Ann
M’Clintock, convened the first Women’s Rights Convention at Wesleyan Chapel in
Seneca Falls, New York. During the Convention, 68 women and 32 men signed the
Declaration of Sentiments calling for a broad array of rights for women,
including suffrage.
(3)Susan B. Anthony
formed the Equal Rights Association, refuted ideas that women were inferior to
men, and fought for women’s right to vote. She also campaigned for the rights
of women to own property, to keep their own earnings, and to have custody of
their children. In 1900, she persuaded the University of Rochester to admit
women.
(4)In 1869, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B.
Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and others formed the National Woman Suffrage
Association, and Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and others formed the American
Woman Suffrage Association. In 1890, these merged into the National American
Woman Suffrage Association. Through mass campaigns involving thousands of women
and men all across the country, National American Woman Suffrage Association
helped secure passage of the Nineteenth amendment to the United States
Constitution, officially certified on August 26, 1920, giving women the right
to vote.
(5)In the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, the women’s movement expanded to play a critical role
in shaping policies on education, legal reform, and economic and social
welfare.
2.Establishment of
votes for women’s history trail route as feature of women's rights national
historical parkTitle XVI of
Public Law 96–607 is amended by inserting after section 1601 (16 U.S.C.
410ll) the following new section:
1602.
(a)Congress
finds that there is an opportunity for the Women’s Rights National Historical
Park in Seneca Falls and Waterloo, New York, to work in partnership with
historically and thematically related properties in the corridor between the
eastern border of New York State and the Niagara Frontier, including the Susan
B. Anthony House, to tell the story of the 72-year fight for women’s
suffrage.
(b)Establishment of
Trail RouteThe Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Director of National Park Service, with concurrence of the agency having
jurisdiction over the relevant roads, is authorized to designate a vehicular
tour route, to be known as the Votes for Women History Trail
Route
, to link properties in the State of New York that are
historically and thematically associated with the struggle for women’s suffrage
in the United States.
(c)The
Votes for Women Trail shall be administered by the National Park Service
through Women’s Rights National Historical Park.
(d)To
facilitate the establishment of the Votes for Women Trail and the dissemination
of information regarding the Trail Route, the Secretary shall—
(1)produce and
disseminate appropriate educational materials regarding the Trail Route, such
as handbooks, maps, exhibits, signs, interpretive guides, and electronic
information;
(2)coordinate the
management, planning, and standards of the auto route in partnership with
participating properties, other Federal agencies, and State and local
governments;
(3)create and adopt
an official, uniform symbol or device to mark the Votes for Women History Trail
Route; and
(4)issue guidelines
for the use of such symbol or device.
(e)The Secretary may designate as an official stop on
the Votes for Women History Trail Route any of the following properties,
subject to the consent of the owner of the property:
(1)All units and
programs of Women’s Rights National Historical Park that pertain to the
struggle for women’s suffrage.
(2)Other Federal,
State, local, and privately owned properties that the Secretary determines have
a verifiable connection to the struggle for women’s suffrage.
(3)Other governmental
and nongovernmental facilities and programs of an educational, commemorative,
research, or interpretive nature that the Secretary determines to be directly
related to the struggle for women’s suffrage.
(f)Cooperative
Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding
(1)To
facilitate the establishment of the Votes for Women Trail and to ensure
effective coordination of the Federal and non-Federal properties designated as
stops along the Trail Route, the Secretary is authorized to enter into
cooperative agreements and memorandums of understanding with, and provide
technical and financial assistance to, other Federal agencies, the State of New
York, localities, regional governmental bodies, and private entities.
(2)Authorization of
appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary of the Interior such sums as are necessary for the period of fiscal
year 2008 through fiscal year 2012 to provide financial assistance to
cooperating entities pursuant to agreements or memorandums entered into under
paragraph
(1).
.
3.National women’s
rights history project national registry
(a)The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to make
annual grants to State historic preservation offices for up to 5 years to
assist those State historic preservation offices in surveying, evaluating, and
nominating women’s rights history properties to the National Register of
Historic Places. The Secretary shall ensure that the National Register travel
itinerary website, Places Where Women Made History
is updated to
contain the results of the inventory and links to websites related to places on
the inventory when such links are available.
(b)When
offering grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority grants
related to properties associated with the multiple facets of the women’s rights
movement such as politics, economics, education, religion, and social and
family rights.
(c)Authorization of
AppropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary of the Interior to carry out this section such sums as are necessary
for the period of fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012.
4.National women’s
rights history project partnerships network
(a)The
Secretary of the Interior is authorized to make matching grants and give
technical assistance for development of a network of governmental and
nongovernmental entities whose purpose is to provide interpretive and
educational program development of national women’s rights history, including
historic preservation. Matching grants for historic preservation specific to
the network may be made available through State historic preservation
offices.
(b)The network shall be managed through a nongovernmental
entity, identified by the Secretary of the Interior through a competitive
process. The nongovernmental managing entity shall work in partnership with the
National Park Service and State historic preservation offices to coordinate
operation of the network.
(c)Authorization of
AppropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary of the Interior to carry out this section such sums as are necessary
for the period of fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012.
1.This Act may be cited as the
National Women’s Rights History
Project Act
.
2.Establishment of votes
for women’s history trail route as a feature of the women's rights national
historical parkTitle XVI of
Public Law 96–607 (16 U.S.C. 410ll) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
1602.
(a)In
this section:
(1)The
term Park
means the Women’s Rights National Historical Park
established by section 1601.
(2)The
term Secretary
means the Secretary of the Interior, acting
through the Director of the National Park Service.
(3)The
term State
means the State of New York.
(4)The
term Trail
means the Votes for Women History Trail Route
designated under subsection (b).
(b)Establishment of Trail
RouteThe Secretary, with concurrence of the agency having
jurisdiction over the relevant roads, may designate a vehicular tour route, to
be known as the Votes for Women History Trail Route
, to link
properties in the State that are historically and thematically associated with
the struggle for women’s suffrage in the United States.
(c)The
Trail shall be administered by the National Park Service through the
Park.
(d)To
facilitate the establishment of the Trail and the dissemination of information
regarding the Trail, the Secretary shall—
(1)produce and disseminate
appropriate educational materials regarding the Trail, such as handbooks, maps,
exhibits, signs, interpretive guides, and electronic information;
(2)coordinate the
management, planning, and standards of the Trail in partnership with
participating properties, other Federal agencies, and State and local
governments;
(3)create and adopt an
official, uniform symbol or device to mark the Trail; and
(4)issue guidelines for the
use of the symbol or device adopted under paragraph (3).
(e)Subject to the consent of the owner of the property, the
Secretary may designate as an official stop on the Trail—
(1)all units and programs of
the Park relating to the struggle for women’s suffrage;
(2)other Federal, State,
local, and privately owned properties that the Secretary determines have a
verifiable connection to the struggle for women’s suffrage; and
(3)other governmental and
nongovernmental facilities and programs of an educational, commemorative,
research, or interpretive nature that the Secretary determines to be directly
related to the struggle for women’s suffrage.
(f)Cooperative Agreements
and Memoranda of Understanding
(1)To facilitate the establishment of the Trail and to
ensure effective coordination of the Federal and non-Federal properties
designated as stops along the Trail, the Secretary may enter into cooperative
agreements and memoranda of understanding with, and provide technical and
financial assistance to, other Federal agencies, the State, localities,
regional governmental bodies, and private entities.
(2)Authorization of
appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary such sums as are necessary for the period of fiscal years 2009
through 2013 to provide financial assistance to cooperating entities pursuant
to agreements or memoranda entered into under paragraph
(1).
.
3.National women’s rights
history project national registry
(a)The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this Act as
the Secretary
) may make annual grants to State historic
preservation offices for not more than 5 years to assist the State historic
preservation offices in surveying, evaluating, and nominating to the National
Register of Historic Places women’s rights history properties.
(b)In
making grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to grants
relating to properties associated with the multiple facets of the women’s
rights movement, such as politics, economics, education, religion, and social
and family rights.
(c)The
Secretary shall ensure that the National Register travel itinerary website
entitled Places Where Women Made History
is updated to
contain—
(1)the results of the
inventory conducted under subsection (a); and
(2)any links to websites
related to places on the inventory.
(d)The Federal share of the cost of any activity carried
out using any assistance made available under this section shall be 50
percent.
(e)Authorization of
AppropriationsThere is authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary to carry out this section $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009
through 2013.
4.National women’s rights
history project partnerships network
(a)The
Secretary may make matching grants and give technical assistance for
development of a network of governmental and nongovernmental entities (referred
to in this section as the network
), the purpose of which is to
provide interpretive and educational program development of national women’s
rights history, including historic preservation.
(b)
(1)The Secretary shall, through a competitive process,
designate a nongovernmental managing network to manage the network.
(2)The
nongovernmental managing entity designated under paragraph (1) shall work in
partnership with the Director of the National Park Service and State historic
preservation offices to coordinate operation of the network.
(c)
(1)The Federal share of the cost of any activity carried out
using any assistance made available under this section shall be 50
percent.
(2)State historic
preservation officesMatching grants for historic preservation
specific to the network may be made available through State historic
preservation offices.
(d)Authorization of
AppropriationsThere is authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary to carry out this section $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009
through 2013.
September 16, 2008
Reported with an amendment