[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 4, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CELEBRATING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

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                        HON. PETER J. VISCLOSKY

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 4, 2020

  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Madam Speaker, it is with great respect and admiration 
that I rise today in observance of Women's History Month and its 2020 
theme--Valiant Women of the Vote. Each year, the National Women's 
History Project selects a unifying theme to recognize and promote 
Women's History Month. This year's theme recognizes the centennial of 
the 19th Amendment and honors the stories of women from the original 
suffrage movement.
  In the United States, women of every race, class, and ethnic 
background have played a critical role with ensuring that women's 
voices are heard. For generations, women have contributed to resolving 
conflicts and have worked to promote equality in the workplace, 
schools, homes, communities, and government. Women have insisted upon 
and continue to fight for respect, justice, and equality for all of 
humanity.
  Throughout the years, women from diverse backgrounds have contributed 
to the courageous movement that would secure a woman's right to vote. 
Among these remarkable leaders being recognized this month are 
passionate activists, including Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, 
Theresa Kumar, founder of Voto Latino, Terry Ao Minnis, Director of 
Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and Edith Mayo, curator at the 
Smithsonian Museum and historian of women's suffrage. Also honored are 
Lucy Burns, a Silent Sentinel who protested at the White House, and 
Carrie Chapman Catt, a suffrage activist from Iowa who served as 
president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). 
Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett, a NAWSA member and 
founder of a suffrage organization in Hawaii, Ana Roque de Duprey, a 
Puerto Rican suffrage organizer, and Elizabeth Piper Ensley, a reporter 
for the ``Women's Era'' and member of the National Association of 
Colored Women, are also remembered for their contributions to the 
movement.
  We also recall the passionate efforts of Marie Foster, a civil rights 
leader who marched from Selma to Montgomery and attempted to register 
to vote eight times before being allowed to vote, Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua 
Lee, a New York suffragist who earned a PhD in economics, and Virginia 
Louisa Minor, the Missouri woman who appealed to the Supreme Court in 
1874 for her right to vote. Finally, we salute Anna Howard Shaw, who 
earned a Distinguished Service Medal during World War I and played a 
critical role in the leadership of NAWSA. For their leadership and 
outstanding dedication to women's rights, unity, and peace, these 
courageous women are well deserving of our respect and admiration. I 
commend them and the many others who fought alongside them for women of 
every creed, class, and ethnic background. These fearless and strong 
women serve as remarkable role models who reflect the 2020 theme, 
Valiant Women of the Vote.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to join in celebrating Women's History 
Month and recognizing the dedication, perseverance, contributions, and 
advances great American women from all cultures and classes have made 
to bettering our communities and the entire country. I ask that you and 
my other distinguished colleagues join me in celebrating these 
extraordinary women who have improved American society and whose 
stories are woven into the fabric of our nation.

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