[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 22, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4601-H4602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    AUTHORIZING EMANCIPATION HALL FOR UNVEILING SOJOURNER TRUTH BUST

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 86) authorizing 
the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for the 
unveiling of a bust of Sojourner Truth.
  The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
  The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 86

       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring),

     SECTION 1. USE OF EMANCIPATION HALL FOR UNVEILING OF 
                   SOJOURNER TRUTH BUST.

       (a) Authorization.--Emancipation Hall in the Capitol 
     Visitor Center is authorized to be used for an event on April 
     28, 2009, to unveil a bust of Sojourner Truth.
       (b) Preparations.--Physical preparations for the conduct of 
     the ceremony described in subsection (a) shall be carried out 
     in accordance with such conditions as may be prescribed by 
     the Architect of the Capitol.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Brady) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
McCarthy) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and to include extraneous material on the concurrent 
resolution now under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the use of Emancipation Hall in the 
Capitol Visitor Center for the unveiling of a bust of Sojourner Truth.
  Born Isabella Baumfree in 1791 in upstate New York, Sojourner Truth 
is one of the lasting icons of the dark ages of slavery and an 
important symbol of the resiliency of the human spirit.
  A slave for more than 20 years, Baumfree escaped to freedom in 1826, 
a year before the New York State Emancipation Act was passed. In 1843, 
Baumfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth, citing a religious 
awakening. For more than 40 years, Truth traveled the country preaching 
religious tolerance, pacifism and gender equality.
  Sojourner Truth's lasting legacy is now being recognized in the form 
of a bust commissioned by Congress. Her image will grace Emancipation 
Hall, serving as a reminder of our capacity to change and our 
willingness to endure. I urge passage of this resolution to honor her 
history.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCARTHY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time 
as I may consume.
  I am pleased to support this resolution authorizing the use of the 
Capitol Visitor Center for the purpose of unveiling the bust of 
Sojourner Truth.
  The ceremony will take place in Emancipation Hall, a site wholly 
appropriate for this remarkable woman who was born into slavery, 
emancipated and spent her adult life fighting for the rights of others.
  In 1843, while in her mid-forties, she told her friends that she had 
been called by the Spirit. She changed her name to Sojourner Truth and 
embarked on a journey of activism. Upon her death more than 40 years 
later, Sojourner Truth traveled the country, preaching about abolition, 
women's suffrage and human rights.

                              {time}  1115

  The inclusion of this work and the collection of arts and artifacts 
of the Capitol and the display of the bust in the Capitol Visitor 
Center fill the gap in the representation of historic Americans that 
contribute much to the betterment of this country.
  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the National Congress 
of Black Women, who generously offered this bust and pedestal as a 
donation to the collection of the United States Capitol.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield 5 
minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), the author of 
the resolution.
  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise 
and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the 
chairman of the House Administration Committee for his generosity and 
leadership, and we truly appreciate his being the epitome of the mayor 
of this great community. I thank the manager of this legislation as 
well.
  I rise today, Mr. Speaker, because sometimes when we reflect on 
history, if we do not tell the truth of history, it is lost. It gives 
me a great privilege to come and to acknowledge the origins and the 
story of the placing of Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist and a 
suffragette, in the halls of the United States Capitol. Born in 1797, 
passing in 1883, she was truly an historical figure, and she was a 
vision of Dr. C. Delores Tucker, the original president of the National 
Congress of Black Women.
  The story begins, as we look in the early years of my coming to the 
United States Congress, of the women who were characterized and 
sculptured as suffragettes. In fact, when I came, the stone sculpture 
was in the basement of this place. It was the leadership of the Women's 
Caucus, Carolyn Maloney, then the Chair, and others who wanted to lift 
that stone women's sculpture that represented the women who had been 
suffragettes to a presence of respect. We joined in that, women of all 
walks of life and all ethnic and racial backgrounds. But we noticed one 
difference: The presence of Sojourner Truth was not there. That became 
the cause of C. Delores Tucker, the late president, the former 
Secretary of State of the National Congress of Black Women. So we 
worked and worked.
  I offer my appreciation to the now Speaker of the House, Nancy 
Pelosi, who was sensitive to this and has helped us to hold this 
wonderful ceremony next week. I offer my appreciation to the former 
Chair of the House Administration Committee, the Honorable Juanita 
Millender-McDonald, Congresswoman Diane Watson, and the many women who 
understood our plea to respect Sojourner Truth. I'm delighted to have 
carried the initial legislation and to have joined with my sisters in 
helping to propose the funding for this sculpture. We managed to do 
this in the short period of time that was given to us over a 2-year 
period and to recognize a woman that could be both a suffragette and an 
abolitionist. On this day, April 28, we will honor the idea of fighting 
for women's rights and the abolition of slavery, intertwined, a woman.
  Might I also suggest to you that there is no African American woman 
sculpture in the entire body of this United States Capitol. There is 
one African American man, Dr. Martin Luther King, and a few pictures. 
We hope to see soon the statue of Rosa Parks. So we are making history 
on April 28, and, again, we are grateful for this.
  Might I share with you the words of this young woman, Sojourner 
Truth, who explained what being a slave was all about. She was a 
powerful speaker. And she would tell listeners of how some slaves were 
kept cowed and afraid to act by beatings, sometimes with spikes, 
sticks, and chains. She, herself, as a teenager, had been taken into 
the barn by her master one afternoon for absolutely no reason and tied 
up by the wrists. Then he tore the shirt from her back and whipped her 
with a bundle of sticks until her back bled. In a voice contemporarily 
described as rich and deep, she described how she refused to give him 
the satisfaction of screaming

[[Page H4602]]

by clinching her fists so hard, her fingernails drew blood from her 
palms. She was heard to have said when she was recognized by a speaker 
in the front of the room by saying, ``Yes, sir, what do you want?'' she 
said, and ``Ain't I a woman?'' Regal with a deep voice but committed to 
the fight.
  And so I'm delighted that the National Congress of Black Women under 
the leadership of Dr. C. Delores Tucker provided us with the Sojourner 
Truth crusade. We thank her current president, Dr. E. Faye Williams, 
and we certainly thank all of those who worked with our office for 
providing this opportunity. Might I also thank the Senate sponsor who 
was a champion, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, now the Secretary of 
State, who worked without tiring to provide us the partnership on this 
legislation. Arlen Specter, Carl Levin, Senator Lott were great 
champions of this effort.
  Mr. Speaker and to the chairman, what we have is a fulfillment of the 
dream of Dr. C. Delores Tucker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 
seconds to the gentlewoman.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. And I am so glad that I was not only able 
to provide the legislation for holding this ceremony but the actual 
legislation to pass this House and this Senate in order to provide us 
with the presence of Sojourner Truth in the body of this United States 
Capitol.
  Again, we could not do it without the chairman of the House 
Administration Committee, Chairman Brady. We thank him again for his 
generosity and the ranking member. And I believe that what we will now 
do is tell the complete and full story that suffragettes came in many 
diverse forms, that of an ex-slave, an abolitionist, and a person who 
advocated for the freedom and empowerment of women. How proud I am to 
stand here as the author of the original legislation in the name and in 
tribute to Dr. C. Delores Tucker and as well the legislation that will 
allow us to celebrate this on April 28, Pay Parity Day, 2009.
  I thank the Speaker for her leadership and her assistance in all of 
this. May we be benefited for all the history that has been expanded in 
the Capitol.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I stand in support of H. Con. 
Res. 86 to authorize the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol 
Visitor Center for the unveiling of the bust of Sojourner Truth. As a 
senior Member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and a tireless 
advocate for minorities and women, I am honored to reintroduce this 
resolution.
  Sojourner Truth was a towering figure among the founders of the 
movement for women's suffrage in the United States.
  She was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 in a plantation in upper New 
York. As a slave, she endured cruel and harsh beatings and rape. In 
late 1826, Ms. Truth escaped to freedom to the home of the Van 
Wagener's, who paid her owner $20 to keep her from having to return to 
his plantation. She lived with the Van Wageners until the New York 
State Emancipation Act was approved a year later.
  After living through 30 years of slavery, Sojourner Truth became a 
leading voice for the abolitionist and the equal rights for women 
movements. She was a suffragist before it was acceptable to be one and 
worked to end slavery and improve the conditions of African-Americans 
before, during, and after the Civil War.
  In 1864, Sojourner Truth was received by then-President Lincoln in 
the White House. Today, we have our first African-American President, 
and our first woman Speaker of the House--it is truly time for 
Sojourner to be properly received in the Capitol.
  Sojourner Truth said, ``Truth is powerful and prevails''. While she 
did not get to see her rights and those of women like her fully 
realized, Ms. Truth changed the evolution of the path which woman had 
to take, and continue to take, to gain equal rights. Ms. Truth is one 
of the founding mothers of the women's rights movement.
  Depicting American history in full color instead of as an all-white 
occurence is an ongoing enterprise. Omitting Sojourner Truth from the 
Portrait Monument, which includes Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, now in the Rotunda of the Capitol, is the 
equivalent of memorializing the Declaration of Independence without 
Thomas Jefferson, or the Revolutionary War without George Washington.
  The suffrage movement was not a white women's movement alone. Its 
ranks included woman of all races and ethnicities. These included 
African American, Hispanic, and Asian women. It included rich and poor 
alike. Sojourner Truth's now famous speech, ``And Ain't I a Women?'' at 
the 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio rallied a crowd of 
dispirited and concerned group of Suffrage leaders.
  The Congressional Black Caucus, particularly its women members, along 
with many women's organizations have long pushed for this day. For the 
first time ever, an African American woman will be represented and 
honored in the Capitol.

  One woman in particular made it her mission to see that Sojourner 
Truth was memorialized on Capitol Hill. Dr. C. Dolores Tucker deserves 
much of the credit for making this day happen. She unfortunately cannot 
be here to witness the result of her tremendous efforts because she 
passed away in October 2005. Dr. Tucker was a visionary leader and 
activist for women's and civil rights. She marched from Selma to 
Montgomery, Alabama with Dr. Martin Luther King in 1965. Later, she 
became the first women to serve as a Secretary of State in 1971. As a 
member of the Democratic National Committee, Dr. Tucker was deeply 
involved in efforts to ensure that women were equally represented at 
all levels of the Democratic party, and she was a primary organizer of 
the women's caucus.
  She was the founding chair in 1984 of the National Political Congress 
of Black Women, now called the National Congress of Black Women (NCBW). 
As chair of the NCBW, she fought to have Sojourner Truth included in 
the Portrait Monument.
  In 1995, I learned of Dr. Tucker's efforts to have Sojourner Truth 
incorporated with the other Suffragists. After many meetings with the 
Architect of the Capitol, the Members of the Women's Caucus, the 
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and other stakeholders, 
legislation was ultimately introduced in 2005 to have a separate bust 
commissioned and installed in the Capitol. And now four years later, 
here we are.
  While Ms. Truth has not yet been included in the portrait monument, 
it is in large part due to Dr. Tucker's work that Ms. Truth will be the 
first African-American women with a statute on Capitol Hill.
  I would also like to applaud the efforts of Michelle Battle, the 
National Council of Negro Women and the National Organization for 
Women, former Congresswoman Millender-McDonald, Congresswoman Diane 
Watson, and E. Faye Williams and the many other women and men who 
helped make this event possible.
  The presence of this bust in the Capitol Hill will commemorate the 
struggle of women and African-Americans alike to gain equal rights in 
the United States. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join me in 
supporting H. Con. Res. 86 so that we may celebrate Sojourner Truth, a 
true American hero.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brady) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 86.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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