[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 21, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H4023]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                HONORING SUFFRAGIST MARY ANN SHADD CARY

  (Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today, standing on the 
achievements of brave women who came before me, to commemorate the 
centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment House passage, expanding 
the right for women to vote.
  As we celebrate this historic day, I want to pay tribute to an 
overlooked but trailblazing woman who helped make it possible, Delaware 
pioneer and suffragist, Mary Ann Shadd Cary. In her prophetic words: 
``We should do more and talk less.''
  Using the power of the pen, Shadd Cary was the first woman to edit 
and publish a newspaper in North America, using that role to combat 
systemic racism and slavery.
  After the Civil War, she set her sights on a new cause: voting. She 
became one of the first Black female lawyers in the United States to 
testify before the House Judiciary Committee, in 1874, advocating for 
women's suffrage in these very Halls.
  Described by W.E.B. Du Bois as ``well-educated, vivacious, with 
determination shining from her sharp eyes,'' Mary Ann Shadd Cary blazed 
trails for women everywhere, and throughout her life, always fought in 
the name of justice and equality.
  We owe it to her and we owe it to all to continue to fight for our 
rights.

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