[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 34 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCTION OF VOTES FOR WOMEN HISTORY TRAIL ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 20, 2002

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Women's History 
Month by introducing an important new bill: the Votes for Women History 
Trail Act.
  I have the great privilege to represent in Congress the City of 
Rochester, New York, and its suburbs--a region considered by many to be 
the cradle of the women's rights movement. Rochester was the proud home 
of Susan B. Anthony; her close friends and fellow suffragists, 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, lived nearby. Prominent civil 
rights activists like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, who also 
supported women's rights ardently, moved to the region and spent most 
of their adult lives there.
  In 1848, the First Women's Rights Convention was held in Seneca 
Falls, New York. Reflecting upon this remarkable event never fails to 
inspire me. After only a week of planning and notice, over three 
hundred men and women from all over the region converged on Seneca 
Falls for the ``Woman's Rights Convention.'' This event heralded the 
beginning of a movement that would yield to women the right to vote 72 
years later, and signal an ongoing struggle for equity in the home, in 
the workplace, and before the law.
  Today, the site of the First Women's Rights Convention is the home of 
the Women's Rights National Historical Park, a respected unit of the 
National Park Service. Nearby are other important sites, such as the 
Hunt House, where the Declaration of Sentiments was drafted, and the 
M'Clintock House. Within an hour's drive, we find a host of other 
places important in women's history--the Harriet Tubman Home for the 
Aging in Auburn, the Matilda Joslyn Gage House in Fayetteville, and the 
Ontario County Courthouse in Canandaigua, where Susan B. Anthony was 
put on trial for the crime of voting.
  I am proud to introduce today legislation that would link all of 
these sites in a way that will benefit students, scholars, and visitors 
alike. The Votes for Women History Trail Act directs the National Park 
Service (NPS) to establish an auto route connecting these various 
sites. The trail would be established in accordance with the 
recommendations contained in an NPS feasibility report funded by 
Congress.
  This trail will allow tourists, educators, and others to connect the 
many sites and events critical to women's history and place them in 
context. It will also serve as a new tourist destination for the 
region, bolstering the flagging economy. Finally, it will give well-
deserved prominence to the importance of women's history for our region 
and our nation as a whole.
  I am proud to sponsor this new initiative, and I hope my colleagues 
will join me in supporting the Votes for Women History Trail Act. I 
look forward to working with the Resources Committee to ensure its 
timely consideration and passage.

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