[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 120 (Monday, July 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10563-S10564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                RELOCATION OF THE ``PORTRAIT MONUMENT''

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, last week, with the help of the 
distinguished majority leader Bob Dole, the Senate in record time 
passed an important joint resolution. The measure calls for a statue 
honoring the leaders of the Women's Suffrage Movement to be removed 
from the crypt and put in a place of honor in the Capitol rotunda.
  The House must now act on this resolution. But when it is approved, 
this Congress will have succeeded where three others did not.
  In 1928, 1932, and 1950 resolutions were introduced to move the 
statue of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony 
from the crypt.
  These resolutions went nowhere. But with Senator Dole's help, we were 
able to quickly clear a space on the calendar for this resolution to be 
passed.
  Timing is critical because we want to move the statue before the 75th 
anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the 
Constitution. That occurs on August 26, and several groups have planned 
ceremonies to mark the date when women earned the right to vote--and 
thereby gained full citizenship in our Republic.
  I believe the elevation of that statue is long overdue and was 
pleased that so many of my colleagues gave their support. The rotunda 
is filled with monuments to the achievements of men in American 
history. It is only fitting that the accomplishments of these women 
will also be memorialized in a place of honor. Their efforts changed 
the history of the United States--and the world by making Democracy 
``saleable'' to every person.
  Mr. President, last week the 75th anniversary of Woman Suffrage task 
force held a press conference and discussed our resolution. At that 
meeting, Joan Meacham and Dr. Caroline Sparks--leaders in the effort to 
move the statue--eloquently traced the history of the monument and what 
its elevation would mean to American women. I ask that their statements 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the statements were ordered to be printed 
in the Record, as follows:

Remarks, Joan-Faye Meacham, President of the 75th Anniversary of Woman 
                          Suffrage Task Force

       Press Conference to Announce Senate Passage of Resolution 
     to Move the Suffrage Statue from the Crypt of the Capitol to 
     the Rotunda, Sewall-Belmont House, July 19, 1995.
       Good Morning, my name is Joan Faye Meacham. I am the 
     President of the 75th Anniversary of Woman Suffrage Task 
     Force. On behalf of the Task Force and the National Woman's 
     Party, I welcome Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and members of 
     his staff, distinguished members of Congress, members of the 
     Task Force's Honorary Leadership Committee, representative of 
     participating women's organizations, and members of the 
     press.
       We are happy to be here at the historic Sewall-Belmont 
     House to announce that on July 17, 1995 the U.S. Senate 
     unanimously passed a resolution to move the suffrage statue 
     from the Crypt of the U.S. Capitol to the Rotunda.
       In 1848, a simple statement was included in the 
     ``Declaration of Sentiments'' presented in Seneca Falls, New 
     York at the Convention that launched the modern women's 
     rights movement.
       ``Resolved. That it is the duty of the women of this 
     country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the 
     elective franchise.''
       The three women, Lucreita Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and 
     Susan B. Anthony, that we honor in the Suffrage Monument, 
     devoted their entire adult lives to this duty to achieve the 
     vote that we enjoy today.
       As you know, August 26th is the 75th Anniversary of the 
     success of their efforts. The 75th Anniversary Task Force is 
     celebrating the achievements of these women and thousands of 
     others who worked and sacrificed for suffrage by announcing 
     four days of activities in our nation's capital from August 
     24th to August 27th 1995. One of our primary goals for this 
     anniversary is to honor our suffrage leaders by moving their 
     monument to a place of prominence in the Rotunda of the U.S. 
     Capitol. The Senate's passage of the resolution to move the 
     statue brings us closer to our long awaited goal.
       Here to tell you more about the meaning of the statue and 
     the effort to move, is Caroline Sparks, Chair of the 75th 
     Anniversary Women's Rights March who, with Barbara Irvine, 
     the President of the Alice Paul Centennial Foundation, was 
     the founder and Co-Chair of the ``Move the Statues'' 
     Campaign. Dr. Sparks, an activist for the women's rights for 
     25 years, has tirelessly worked to bring the story of the 
     statue to public attention. It is with pride and appreciation 
     that I introduce Dr. Sparks.
                                                                    ____

  Remarks by Caroline H. Sparks, Ph.D., Chair of the 75th Anniversary 
   Women's Rights Festival and March and Co-Chair of the ``Move the 
                           Statue'' Campaign

       Press conference to Announce Senate Passage of the 
     Resolution to Move the Suffrage Statue to the Capitol 
     Rotunda. July 19, 1995, Sewall-Belmont House.
       The statue of suffrage leaders, featuring Lucretia Mott, 
     Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony--our ``mothers of 
     woman suffrage''--was presented to Congress by the women of 
     the nation on February 15, 1921, Susan B. Anthony's birthday. 
     Alice Paul of The National Woman's Party, commissioned the 
     statue as a memorial to the work of women to achieve the 
     vote.
       Adelaide Johnson, the sculptor of the statue, tried to 
     capture in her monument the spirit of the revolution that 
     enfranchised the women of our nation. Her beliefs about the 
     import of the woman movement are expressed in her original 
     inscription for the monument:
       ``Spiritually the woman movement is the all-enfolding one. 
     It represents the emancipation of womanhood. The release of 
     the feminine principle in humanity, the moral integration of 
     human evolution come to rescue torn and struggling humanity 
     from its savage self.''
       Johnson's inscription described the three suffrage leaders 
     as ``the three great destiny characters of the world whose 
     spiritual import and historical significance transcend that 
     of all others of any country or any age.'' Her words were 
     whitewashed out with yellow paint in 1921 after the Joint 
     Committee of the Library of Congress balked at the so-called 
     pagan language that glorified the early feminist movement. 
     The statue was moved from the Rotunda to the Crypt shortly 
     after its initial dedication, where it still remains, 75 
     years later. The statue's name has been lost though it has 
     been known variously as ``The Woman Movement'', 
     ``Revolution'' and the ``Pioneer Suffrage Statue''. Today, 
     known simply as ``The Portrait Monument'', the women's names 
     face the wall and cannot be seen.
       I first saw the statue while in Washington for a march for 
     women's equality in 1977. Like many women, a friend and I 
     simply stumbled upon it. Although we had been activists for 
     many years, we had never known of its existence. When I 
     worked for the Feminist Institute, the statue was the 
     inspiration for the development of the Feminist Walking Tour 
     of Capitol Hill, in which we gave women an opportunity to see 
     women's history in the nation's capital and to hear stories 
     of women's fight for equality. Women still tell me that they 
     ``stumble'' upon the statue, never having known its story.
       In 1990, a coalition of women's groups, led by the Feminist 
     Institute, the Alice Paul Foundation, The National Woman's 
     Party and other women's organizations and supporters launched 
     a campaign to move the statue. We felt then, and we still 
     feel, that we need public symbols that depict women who have 
     participated in the creation of our Nation. We are concerned 
     that visitors to the Capitol Rotunda are left with the 
     impression that women had nothing to do with the founding of 
     the Nation. We believe it is important for our citizens, 
     especially our children, and foreign guests to see pioneers 
     of suffrage in the Rotunda with George Washington, Abraham 
     Lincoln and Martin Luther King, as an inspiration and a 
     reminder that women fought for over 70 years to win basic 
     rights. Young women, especially, need to know that women 
     accepted their duty to fight for our rights and be inspired 
     to continue the struggle for equality begun by these 
     foremothers. Everyone needs to know the history of the 
     struggle to achieve suffrage for half our population.

[[Page S10564]]

       Our coalition is not the first to demand more prominent 
     display of the suffrage monument. A year after the statue was 
     removed to the basement storage area, members of the National 
     Woman's Party protested that it was covered with dirt and 
     rubbish. Unable to have the statue cleaned, they brought mops 
     and buckets in and cleaned it themselves. Resolutions to move 
     the statue have been brought before Congress in 1928, 1932 
     and 1950 but were unsuccessful.
       We, like these others who tried before us, want the 
     Suffrage leaders in the rotunda as a visible reminder of the 
     strength and ability of women and as an inspiration to women 
     in the future to continue to fight for their rights. We 
     believe that this, the 75th year after its creation, is the 
     year this effort will be successful.
       The Joint Resolution to Move the Statue has already passed 
     unanimously in the Senate and now goes to the House of 
     Representatives. We ask that our Representatives recognize 
     the importance of women voters by joining the Senate in this 
     resolution and we remind them that in a democracy: ``It's not 
     nice to put your forefathers in the living room and your 
     foremothers in the basement.''
       With us today is someone who understood immediately the 
     importance of honoring our suffrage leaders. Senator Ted 
     Stevens of Alaska introduced the Joint Resolution to Move the 
     Suffrage monument to the Rotunda. We thank Senator Stevens 
     and ask that he make a few remarks about his involvement in 
     the effort to move the statue.
     

                          ____________________