[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 8, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1113-E1114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RECOGNIZING 155TH ANNIVERSARY OF 13TH AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. JOYCE BEATTY

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 7, 2020

  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my fellow Congressional Black 
Caucus members for coming together this evening to recognize and 
acknowledge the 155th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th 
Amendment to the United States Constitution.
  Mr. Speaker, 1865 was certainly a turning point in the history of our 
nation, with the end of the Civil War and the assassination of one of 
our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln.
  But the ideal over which the Civil War was fought and President 
Lincoln died was not fulfilled until late in that year--155 years ago 
yesterday, in fact.
  When Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the 13th Amendment, on 
December 6, 1865, our country formally put an end to the practice of 
chattel slavery in this country.

[[Page E1114]]

  In the following years, Congress and the states added to the 
Reconstruction Era Civil Rights Amendments, with the 14th Amendment in 
1868, providing for equal protection and due process, and the 15th 
Amendment in 1870, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race.
  These constitutional amendments were absolutely critical in our 
pursuit of a more perfect union where all men, and women, are created 
equal.
  In the first four-score-and-9 years of our Republic, slavery was 
allowed and, indeed, enshrined in our Constitution.
  While that changed with the 13th Amendment, over the last 155 years, 
we have still had to struggle for true equality.
  The 13th Amendment may have ended slavery, but it did not stop the 
Black Codes or Jim Crow.
  The 14th Amendment promised equal protection, but it didn't prevent 
100 years of segregation.
  The 15th Amendment says that the right to vote shall not be denied or 
abridged, but it hasn't kept tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of 
people of color from being disenfranchised at the hands of voter 
suppression tactics.
  That is why I think it is so important that we do things like this--
come together to talk about our history and the steps we need to take 
to complete the work.
  Despite the progress over the years, we have not yet solved the 
problem of systemic racism.
  We have work yet to do to make sure that a child's future isn't 
determined by her zip code; to overcome disparities in our health care 
system that have been exacerbated by a global pandemic; to prevent 
innocent Black men from being killed in the street.
  As we approach another milestone--the 50th Anniversary of the 
creation of the Congressional Black Caucus--I am proud to join with my 
colleagues in the CBC to do that hard work, and to finally ratify the 
13th Amendment, not just in law, but in truth.

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