[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 25, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H2616-H2617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Tonko) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of Women's 
History Month. On March 13, my colleagues joined together on the House 
floor to call for the passage of H.R. 863, which would call for a 
commission to study the potential creation of a national women's 
history museum in our Nation's Capital.
  They discussed the critical need for the museum and recognized the 
many women who have shaped our Nation. My colleagues are historic women 
in their own right. Today, I am proud to join them in voicing my 
support for H.R. 863.
  H.R. 863 would establish a commission to study and recommend a plan 
of action for the establishment and maintenance of a national women's 
history museum here in Washington, D.C.
  The National Women's History Museum will be the first of its kind to 
celebrate women's history and women's contributions to the United 
States. It will not cost the Federal Government a dime since every cent 
will be privately raised.
  Why is it necessary? Well, from our Nation's founding, women have 
played a crucial role, providing numerous contributions to help create 
and reinforce this great foundation of our Nation. Women have changed 
the course of history, and we are long overdue in celebrating and 
recognizing them and their accomplishments.
  Women's history is largely missing from textbooks, from memorials, 
from museum exhibits, and from many other venues. Of the 210 statues in 
the United States Capitol, only nine are of female leaders.
  Less than 5 percent of the 2,400 national historic landmarks 
chronicle women's achievement, and a recent survey of some 18 history 
textbooks

[[Page H2617]]

found that only 10 percent of the individuals identified in the text 
were women.
  What about New York and its role--my home State? Well, the women's 
suffrage movement had its roots in upstate New York that I proudly 
represent. Certainly, the start of what would become a nationwide 
movement for women's rights in the United States was staked in Seneca 
Falls, New York, and began in 1848.
  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, all who 
have made their voices heard for the empowerment of women, claim New 
York as their home State. Let's make sure their stories continue to be 
told.
  Countless outstanding women in the capital region have stories that 
every American should know. Let me cite one, Shirley Ann Jackson, in 
the capital region of New York that I represent.
  Shirley Ann Jackson--Dr. Jackson, President Jackson of RPI--is a 
renowned American physicist, who in 1973 graduated from MIT with a 
Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics, becoming the very 
first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in MIT's history.
  She currently serves as President of Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute, or RPI, and she continues to advocate on behalf of women and 
minorities in the sciences. Her story should be told.
  There are countless stories that need to be told. I will continue to 
proudly support the creation of a national women's history museum and 
H.R. 863.
  When visitors from the capital region of New York come to our 
Nation's Capital, they should have the opportunity to learn about, to 
celebrate, and, yes, to be inspired by women's history.
  I thank the gentlewoman from New York, Carolyn Maloney, and the 
gentlewoman from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn, for their continued 
efforts on behalf of this endeavor.

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