[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 55 (Monday, March 27, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1456-H1463]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 COMMEMORATING BLACK WOMEN AND THE ERA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McCormick). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Jackson) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this 
Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to coanchor 
this CBC Special Order alongside the Honorable Cori Bush of Missouri, 
founder of the first Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights 
Amendment.
  For the next 60 minutes, members of the CBC have an opportunity to 
speak directly to the American people on finally getting the equal 
rights across the finish line and recognized as the 28th amendment to 
the U.S. Constitution, 100 years after it was first introduced in the 
House of Representatives, an issue of great importance to the 
Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent, 
and all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate and honor the incredible 
efforts of African-American women who have advocated for the equal 
rights amendment, ERA, throughout history. Their resilience, passion, 
and determination have driven the relentless pursuit of gender equality 
and justice for all.
  In the 1970s, prominent Black women like Pauli Murray, Shirley 
Chisholm, Flo Kennedy, and Barbara Jordan were instrumental in 
advancing the cause of women's rights and the ERA.
  When the 28th amendment is finally recognized as part of the United 
States Constitution, Black women deserve to have significant credit for 
its passage. Their legacy reminds us of the power of unity, conviction, 
and perseverance in the face of adversity. Let us not forgot the 
profound words of feminist lawyer and civil rights advocate, Pauli 
Murray, who testified for the ERA at a 1970

[[Page H1457]]

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. She said, ``As a constitutional 
lawyer, a woman, and a Black person, I can say with conviction that 
Black women as a group have the most to gain from the adoption of the 
equal rights amendment.''
  Let us draw strength from these words of Congresswoman Shirley 
Chisholm, who proclaimed in her speech in 1970, ``I am for the equal 
rights amendment.''
  ``This is what it comes down to: artificial distinctions between 
persons must be wiped out of the law. Legal discrimination between the 
sexes is, in almost every instance, founded on outmoded views of 
society and the prescientific beliefs about psychology and physiology. 
It is time to sweep away these relics of the past and set future 
generations free of them.''
  Mr. Speaker, let us be inspired by the words of Representative 
Barbara Jordan, who said, ``The equal rights amendment is a mandate for 
change. It is a standard by which to measure our future legal and 
social constructs. . . . The equal rights amendment is for men and 
women. It is a constructive force for liberating the minds of men and 
the place of women. It is inclusive.''
  As we pay tribute to these trailblazing Black women, it is crucial to 
recognize that the fight for gender and racial equality is still 
ongoing. The number of Black women in Congress remains 
disproportionately low compared to the diverse population they 
represent.
  As of today, only 57 women of African-American ancestry out of 12,505 
people who have served in this august body have ever served in this 
Congress, a mere fraction of the total number of Representatives and 
Senators who have shared and served throughout our Nation's history.
  Only two African-American women have ever served in the Senate and 
none in the Governor's mansion. The Senator is Democrat Carol Moseley 
Braun of Illinois, elected in 1992, and current Vice President, Mrs. 
Kamala Harris.
  This underrepresentation is a call to action for all of us, a 
reminder that we must continue to strive for a government that is truly 
representative of the people it serves. We must also recognize that the 
fight for gender and racial equality is not limited to the Halls of 
Congress.
  Across our Nation, countless Black women and women of color continue 
to face barriers in access to education and access to healthcare and 
access to employment opportunities and access to equal pay.
  The struggle for justice and equality is a daily battle fought by 
millions of women who refuse to be silenced or sidelined in their 
pursuit of a more just and inclusive society. It is our responsibility 
as citizens and as leaders to ensure that the voices of Black women and 
women of color are heard, their concerns are addressed, and their 
contributions are acknowledged and celebrated.
  We must work together to dismantle the systems of oppression and 
discrimination that continue to hold back so many of our sisters, 
daughters, and mothers from reaching their full potential. As we 
continue to push forward, let us remember the words of the great civil 
rights leader, Reverend Martin Luther King, who said, ``The arc of the 
moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.''
  Let us then bend that arc toward justice together and make the equal 
rights amendment a reality for all.
  In the name of all those who have fought for justice, for equality, 
and for the rights of women, let us say amen.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. Bush).
  Ms. BUSH. Mr. Speaker, St. Louis and I rise today for the equal 
rights amendment.
  We rise on this historic occasion, on the eve of the birth of the 
Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment, a caucus I am 
proud to be founding tomorrow alongside my co-chair-in-service, my 
sister-in-service, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.
  We rise in the tradition of those who led this fight before us, those 
whose shoulders we now stand upon: shoulders like Pauli Murray, Shirley 
Chisholm, and Barbara Jordan.
  On this ERA caucus eve, as we near the close of Women's History 
Month, it is only fitting that we are here on the floor of this U.S. 
House of Representatives with our Congressional Black Caucus 
colleagues, because Black women have always been leaders of the fight 
to enshrine equality in our Nation's Constitution, but we haven't 
always been in the headlines for leading that work. Today, we are here 
to declare that the reason the ERA is a priority for the CBC is because 
everyone in our communities has something to gain from its 
finalization. Black women, girls, and queer folk have the most to gain. 
We are here continuing to lead, demanding exactly what is owed to us: 
equality.
  Because, you see, the Constitution, in all its wisdom, guaranteed 
fundamental inalienable rights, but stopped short of guaranteeing those 
rights for everyone. Women? We were written out. Black women? Not only 
were we written out, but too many authors of the Constitution were busy 
enslaving, exploiting, and extracting the labor of our ancestors for 
profit and were unconcerned with what was owed to us: equal rights, 
nothing less.
  We need to start by being honest about who is harmed the most when 
equal rights are not enshrined in our Constitution. We know that 
without the ERA, the patchwork legislation that we have in place to 
protect women--including provisions of the Equal Pay Act, the 1964 
Civil Rights Act, Title IX, and the Violence Against Women Act--has 
primarily benefited and made gains for White women. Now is the time to 
build on those gains and expand protections for all women and LGBTQ+ 
folks, all of us, too.
  This is our moment. One hundred years since the ERA was introduced in 
this body, 100 years. This is our moment to finalize the ERA so that we 
modernize the Constitution and make sure the fight for equality not 
only includes but centers the people who have been left behind, because 
we were written out of this document.
  One hundred years, and all we are asking for is 24 words. In 24 
words, 24 simple words, the equal rights amendment will add to our 
Constitution that: ``Equality of rights under the law shall not be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of 
sex.''
  That is it. In other words, this amendment would make the ``we'' in 
the ``we the people'' become ``us,'' all of us. In doing so, the ERA 
can protect people from gender-based discrimination by simultaneously 
acting as a vehicle for progress.
  We see it here. This is just a portion. It can work to ensure 
permanent protections, like fair wages, like violence prevention, like 
healthcare equity, like reproductive freedom, like LGBTQ+ rights, and 
like much else we not only deserve but are entitled to and are owed. 
Equality and nothing less. That is what we are asking for.
  But we need the ERA, and we need it now, because equality is overdue. 
Equality is overdue.
  I rise in support of the equal rights amendment today, on the 
shoulders of the scores of Black women and LGBTQ+ people who have 
toiled on this initiative for 100 whole years, to amplify their calls, 
calls they made in this very Chamber and outside of it, calls that 
resonate today even as the attacks against us intensify, calls to 
publish the ERA now. Publish the ERA now. Publish the equal rights 
amendment now, because equality is overdue.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable 
Congresswoman Cori Bush for her remarks.

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), 
my distinguished colleague.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for 
his leadership on a very important topic this evening that brings us 
all together.
  I thank Congresswoman Cori Bush for the vibrancy, along with 
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, in the organizing of the ERA Caucus. It 
is important that we work together to ensure that the equal rights 
amendment becomes law.
  I am reminded of my entering Congress. I don't know if anyone would 
realize that there was a statue for suffragette women, women in the 
early 1900s who were seeking the women's right to vote. Even earlier 
than that, Sojourner Truth, who we galvanized around, with the National 
Congress for Black Women, to provide an opportunity for Sojourner Truth 
to even

[[Page H1458]]

have a statue here as an early suffragette and abolitionist.
  When I came, the statue honoring women, who fought for women's rights 
and the right to vote, was in the basement. It was women, Members of 
the House and the Senate, who had to organize and fight to lift that 
very awesome sculpture out of the basement, covered by dust, to be able 
to be put in the rotunda.
  We still have work undone, because it was a half-finished sculpture. 
African-American women argued that they did not have Sojourner Truth in 
that statue, who was an abolitionist and leader on women's rights.

                              {time}  1945

  We did it through legislation, myself and Senator Clinton, we did, in 
fact, get a statue sculptured by an African-American woman of Sojourner 
Truth, she now remains in Emancipation Hall, and our task is not yet 
finished to be able to place her in the rotunda along with the other 
statues.
  I say that to say that this Caucus, this announcement, couldn't be 
more important, and the reason is because Black women were very 
instrumental in having the loudest voices; realizing even then that 
Black women had the lowest hourly wage, Black women were still domestic 
workers, Black women were not, in fact, equal in many aspects of the 
law.
  Pauli Murray, who I honor; Shirley Chisholm, Flo Kennedy, all of whom 
I remember and know, and Barbara Jordan, are a few of the prominent 
Black women who have advocated for the equal rights amendment in the 
1970s.
  Many Black organizations endorsed the ERA, including the National 
Black Feminist Organization, the NAACP, and the Coalition of Black 
Trade Unionists. A 1970s Gallup poll showed that 60 percent of Black 
women wanted the ERA. This has been a long history.
  There is a long history of activism that Black women and women of 
color in support of women's rights and the ERA, stated by historian and 
professor of Africana studies, Dr. Mary Phillips.
  Today, Black women still play a critical role in pushing for the ERA. 
In three States, to recently ratify the ERA, Black women were at the 
forefront. Nevada Senator Pat Spearman led a successful campaign for 
the ratification of the ERA in her State in 2017, and Representative 
Juliana Stratton made extensive floor speeches in support of the ERA in 
Illinois.
  As well, Jennifer McClellan led the successful effort to ratify the 
ERA in Virginia, finally bringing the total ratification of the ERA to 
38 States required to become part of the Constitution.
  And yet, we did not make our mark. Yet, we have more work to do. Yet, 
we are struggling to ensure that in 2023 Black women will have equal 
rights in the court. Black women will have equal rights in healthcare. 
Black women will have equal rights in education. Black women will have 
equal rights in the issue of sexual assaults and rape when women are 
charged with agreeing or consent, which is not true. Equal rights to be 
heard. Equal rights in work. Equal rights in payments.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support my colleagues, and really to 
acknowledge these brave and historic women. I am so proud that my 
predecessor, the Honorable Barbara Jordan, was one of those who stood 
regally tall along with the first African-American woman in the United 
States Congress, Shirley Chisholm.
  Of course, who could forget Flo Kennedy wearing those hats. Who could 
forget feminist and civil rights advocate Pauli Murray, who testified 
for the equal rights amendment at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing 
in 1970. In her testimony, Murray drew up upon her own experience of 
race and sex, and these are her words:
  ``Although my motivation, energy, and effort to meet the highest 
standards of performance have been operative throughout my life, I have 
experienced numerous delays in my career, not for the traditional 
reasons given for the failure of women to develop on par with men in 
our society (marriage, childbearing, et cetera), but by a combination 
of individual and institutional racism and sexism--Jim Crow and June 
Crow.''
  As a constitutional lawyer, a woman, and a Black person, I can say 
with conviction that Black women, as a group, have the most to gain 
from the adoption of the equal rights amendment. All that has been said 
about the frustration and deprivations of American women, generally 
because of discrimination by reason of sex, can be said with special 
force about the position of Black women.
  My concluding remarks--maybe she didn't call herself a fighter for 
the ERA, but Harriet Tubman was a fighter for justice and took slaves 
out of the Deep South. Her words were this:
  If you hear the dogs coming, keep on moving. If you hear the noise, 
keep on moving. If you see the lights, keep on moving. Because if you 
want a taste of freedom, keep on moving.
  Tonight we stand here for freedom and the equal rights amendment.
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a timeline of the equal rights 
movement.

       1840:
       Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are barred from 
     attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London. 
     They decide to hold a Women's Convention in the U.S.
       1850:
       Massachusetts, is the site of the first National Women's 
     Rights Convention. Frederick Douglass, Paulina Wright Davis, 
     William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone, and Sojourner Truth 
     attend. A strong alliance is formed with the Abolitionist 
     Movement.
       1851:
       At a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner 
     Truth, a former slave, delivers her speech, ``Ain't I a 
     woman?''.
       1870:
       The Fifteenth Amendment gave Black men the right to vote. 
     The National Woman's Suffrage Association refused to work for 
     its ratification. Frederick Douglass broke with Stanton and 
     Anthony over this position.
       1890:
       The National Woman Suffrage Association and the American 
     Woman Suffrage Association, merged to formally expand the 
     National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). NAWSA 
     focused on enfranchisement solely for white women.
       1913:
       The Alpha Suffrage Club was founded, with Ida B. Wells as 
     one of the co-founders and leaders, this is believed to be 
     the first African-American women's suffrage association in 
     the United States.
       1920:
       Three quarters of the state legislatures ratify the 
     Nineteenth Amendment.
       1940:
       Jim Crow laws such as poll taxes and literacy tests are 
     enacted, designed to keep Black citizens from voting.
       1965:
       500 activists march from Selma to Montgomery, AL to demand 
     voting rights for Black citizens. They are brutally attacked 
     by law enforcement.
       1965:
       President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act 
     into law.
       2011:
       Record numbers of state restrictions are enacted on voting, 
     including voter ID laws and restrictions to early voting.
       2013:
       The Supreme Court strikes down the heart of the Voting 
     Rights Act by a 5-to-4 vote, freeing states to change their 
     election laws.

  The first Equal Rights Amendment was drafted by the National Women's 
Party in 1921 to enshrine equality for women in the Constitution.
  Fifty-one years later, the Equal Rights Amendment won the requisite 
two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives and passed the Senate.
  In 2020, Virginia became the thirty-eighth state to vote in favor of 
the ERA, but whether the ERA has accordingly been ratified remains 
politically and legally contested.
  Since 2013, Black Lives Matter has been a global social movement 
advocating against anti-Black racism and state-sanctioned violence, 
including but not limited to police brutality against Black men and 
women.
  The movement has attracted broad participation by non-Black activists 
and lawmakers following the police murder of George Floyd.


           Suffrage in America: The 15th and 19th Amendments

  During the 19th and 20th centuries, Black women played an active role 
in the struggle for universal suffrage.


                    Who got the right to vote when?

  August 18, 2020 marked 100 years since the ratification of the 19th 
Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to 
vote.
  However, obstacles like poll taxes, literacy tests and other 
discriminatory state voting laws would keep Black women (and men) 
disenfranchised for a further 45 years.


      Black Women Had to Fight for the Right to Vote on Two Fronts

  They were suffragists combating both racism and sexism long after the 
19th Amendment was passed.
  Women of color were crucial to women's suffrage--it's time we 
acknowledge them.

[[Page H1459]]

  Wagner, who is behind books such as Women's Suffrage Anthology and 
Sisters in Spirit, has for almost 30 years studied the Haudenosaunee 
(or the Iroquois) influence on the early feminist movements.


                          More to the Movement

  While Seneca Falls is considered the first American convention to 
focus exclusively on women's rights, the first convention to consider 
women's rights as an issue was the May 9, 1837, Anti-Slavery Convention 
of American Women in New York City.


                       LEGISLATION: H.J. RES. 25

  Women have done the work of preserving and defending our democracy 
for centuries, and it is past time our laws recognize our contributions 
and the historic role that we have played.
  The first time the ERA was put forward, women of color were not part 
of the conversation. Now, we're leading and working in coalition to 
advance this priority.
  Our resolution will help address centuries of gender disparities in 
America by removing the unnecessary barriers that have prevented us 
from enshrining the dignity, humanity, and equality of all people into 
our Constitution.
  We as women have done our job, the states have done their job, and 
now it's time for Congress to do its job and pass this resolution.
  I know how transformative the ERA will be for millions of women and 
our LGBTQ siblings across this country.


                H.J. Res. 25 History/What the bill does

  The ERA has been introduced in every session of Congress until it 
passed in 1972 in both the House and Senate.
  Congress then placed an arbitrary deadline on the ratification 
process.
  Our resolution would remove the arbitrary deadline imposed by 
Congress and affirm the ratification of the ERA as the 28th Amendment.
  The only thing standing in the way of ratification is Congress 
passing legislation to remove that arbitrary deadline and declare the 
ERA valid, since 38 states, making up three-fourths of the country, 
have now ratified the ERA.
  80 percent of countries across the world have enshrined language 
within their Constitutions that establishes equal rights and protection 
for women. The United States must do the same.


                   Black Women Suffragists In History

     Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
  An abolitionist and women's suffrage leader who became one of the 
first Black writers to popularize African American protest poetry.
     Ida B Wells-Barnett
  Wells-Barnett was a prominent journalist, activist, and researcher, 
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  In her lifetime, she battled sexism, racism, and violence.
  As a skilled writer, Wells-Barnett also used her skills as a 
journalist to shed light on the conditions of African Americans 
throughout the South.
     (Isabella Bomfree) Sojourner Truth
  Formerly enslaved, Sojourner Truth became an outspoken advocate for 
abolition, temperance, and civil and women's rights in the nineteenth 
century.
  She challenged the notions of racial and gender inferiority through 
notable speeches and a lecture tour, including ``Ain't I A Woman?''
  Her work to help formerly enslaved peoples find jobs and build new 
lives after the Civil War earned her an invitation to meet President 
Abraham Lincoln in 1864.
     Mary Church Terrell
  One of the first African American women to earn a college degree, 
Terrell helped found the National Association of Colored Women, was a 
key activist in the suffrage movement, and helped desegregate 
restaurants in D.C.
     Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin
  Lampkin spent her life fighting for the right to vote and centered 
her work around many women's organizations, including becoming the 
president of the Lucy Stone Woman Suffrage League in 1915.
     Nannie Helen Burroughs
  A prominent African American educator, church leader and suffragette, 
Burroughs also helped found the National Association of Colored Women 
and was a lead writer on injustices endured by the African American 
community.
     Sarah Parker Remond
  Born in 1824, Remand brought a legal case against a theater after 
being forced out when she refused to sit in segregated seats.
  She won the case and the theatre was ordered to stop segregated 
seating.
  She became a speaker for the American Anti-Slavery Society and fought 
for voting rights in the US as well as abolition on an international 
scale.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable 
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for those outstanding remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. 
Pressley).
  Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Speaker, I am so appreciative that we have male 
colleagues like you who do see this as a shared fight, and we 
appreciate your leadership and partnership in this moment.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my sister in service, my partner in good, on so 
many issues of consequence, Representative Cori Bush, for your 
leadership, your ingenuity, and your partnership. I never grow tired of 
your saying: St. Louis and I rise. I know every time that you say that, 
St. Louis and those that are the most marginalized, ignored, left out, 
and left behind are being advanced in that moment--that justice is on 
the way.
  As Black women who have earned the right to be Members of this august 
body, we find ourselves at the intersection of both race and gender. 
Some of the most profound and most impactful policies come directly 
from our lived experiences.
  Each day as we walk these sacred Halls of power, we see statues and 
portraits of White men that serve as reminders of the inequality and 
the lack of parity in these Halls in our Nation's past and present.
  For centuries, the contributions of Black women have been excluded 
from the narrative and marginalized in history, but not today. Today, 
there will be no erasure. We will give all the flowers to Shirley 
Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and Pauli Murray.
  Black women, they believed, are inherently valued, and our equality 
is a necessity. They advocated for the ERA to codify those truths in 
our Constitution. Ratifying the ERA is not only about history, it is 
about the here and now. Black women are still organizing at the 
forefront of the women's rights movement. Zakiya Thomas, Christian 
Nunes, Melanie Campbell, and Fatima Goss Graves are community builders 
and organizational leaders that are working daily to get the job done: 
Black women, justice seekers, truth tellers, pace setters, table 
shakers, always doing the work of liberation, even when our own was 
often sacrificed.
  I feel especially encouraged and emboldened that Black women are a 
part of the multigenerational and multiracial coalition leading and 
working in an intersectional way to advance policy change.
  This Congress, I introduced a joint resolution to finally make the 
equal rights amendment the 28th amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States of America, but I did not introduce it alone. I was 
joined by Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove, Madeleine Dean, Sylvia Garcia, 
Abigail Spanberger, and, of course, my partner in good, my sister in 
service, and co-chair of the Equal Rights Caucus, Representative Cori 
Bush.
  When the equal rights amendment was put forward 100 years ago, the 
coalition was not as diverse nor as inclusive. As a Black woman who has 
experienced firsthand many of the daily indignities of an unequal 
society and heard stories from my mother, Sandy, may she rest in peace 
and power, who throughout her career had to train men who were paid 
more and promoted over her--I know how transformative the ERA will be 
for millions of women and our LGBTQ siblings across this country.
  It is long past time the Constitution affirms our equality--and our 
very existence--in the eyes of the law. The ramifications run deep as 
women face daily sexism, pregnancy discrimination, pay inequities, 
sexual violence, and persistent legislated attacks on our bodily 
autonomy.
  We need the ERA now. I stand proudly with my colleagues in the 
Congressional Black Caucus, and my co-chair of the new ERA Caucus, to 
demand that Congress does its job, pass our resolution, and codify the 
equal rights amendment into the U.S. Constitution.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that in short order there will be a 
calendar one day that will cite: On this day in history, the ERA Caucus 
was established. I look forward to the day that there will also be a 
calendar that notes: On this day in history, the ERA was passed.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable Ayanna 
Pressley for her advocacy. I appreciate her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty).

[[Page H1460]]

  

  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, to our Special Order Congressional Black 
Caucus chairman, Congressman Jonathan Jackson, it is my honor to stand 
here with you to thank you for your leadership and for all that you are 
doing--to be a Black man standing, talking about the equal rights 
amendment with us as members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
  Mr. Speaker, it also gives me great pleasure to be here tonight as 
the ninth woman to chair the Congressional Black Caucus, standing 
alongside with my colleagues as we pay tribute to countless 
advancements, achievements, and hard-fought victories by Black women to 
advance the equal rights amendment.
  Let me just say, what an honor to thank the chairwomen of tonight's 
Special Order Hour, Congresswoman Cori Bush and Congresswoman Ayanna 
Pressley.
  You will hear tonight words like Sojourner, truth-tellers, fighters 
for freedom--that is just what you are. My sister, my friend, thank you 
for all that you do.
  We stand here tonight on the heels of Black History Month, in the 
heart of Women's History Month, and we do so at such a critical time in 
our Nation's history. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Sheroes who 
paved the way for the fight for civil rights and women's rights today, 
for women like us in this room and countless women across the Nation.
  Women like Mary Church Terrell, ``unbought and unbossed'' Shirley 
Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Flo Kennedy, Pauli Murray, Aileen Hernandez 
who were instrumental in elevating the cause of women's equality in the 
ERA.
  Women like we have heard about already, Senator Spearman to 
Lieutenant Government Stratton, to our very own Jennifer McClellan of 
Virginia. Black women led the way.
  It is interesting when we say: What did it get us? Whose shoulders do 
we stand on?
  It seems fitting for me to say today, as we bring members of Delta 
Sigma Theta Sorority to the Capitol to fight for some of those same 
rights as they did in 1913 when, yes, it was 22 Black women who brought 
up the rear of the march for the women's suffrage march.

                              {time}  2000

  It is important for me to highlight today, on this chart, nine women 
have served as leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, making 
history fighting for equal rights.
  But for that, we would not have, as noted here, Vice President Kamala 
Harris and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
  We would not have two Black women in America today who are CEOs of 
Fortune 100 companies--just two.
  We would not have in the Halls of this Capitol two women's statues, 
Rosa Parks, brought to the Capitol by Members--us--fighting for 
justice, and we would not have from the State of Florida one of their 
two statues, Mary McLeod Bethune.
  Nor would we have the only woman when we started, in 1971, in the 
Congressional Black Caucus--no other than Shirley Chisholm.
  Nor would we have Charity Edna Earley, the first Black officer in the 
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.
  We have come a long way, and we could put petitions and posters 
around this whole Chamber about why we came today.
  Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by saying that I am joining my 
colleagues to demand Congress act to finally adopt the equal rights 
amendment into the United States Constitution because, as I love 
saying, when women succeed, America succeeds.
  The late Maya Angelou stated: ``Each time a woman stands up for 
herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands 
up for all women.''
  Today, Mr. Speaker, we stand up with Congresswoman Bush and 
Congresswoman Pressley.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I sincerely thank the Honorable 
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of the State of Ohio for her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from the great 
State of New York (Ms. Clarke).
  Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Illinois, Jonathan Jackson, for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise on this day to acknowledge and thank 
Congresswoman Cori Bush and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for their 
unyielding, unflinching, and unapologetic leadership and for leading 
the charge on the ratification of the equal rights amendment.
  I rise today to reaffirm that ever-present need to have this 
ratification take place, as well as to recognize the tireless efforts 
and work of Black women on behalf of that mission.
  It was more than half a century ago that the ERA first passed 
Congress due in large part to the efforts in drafting, advancing, and 
organizing by trailblazing Black women.
  With that said, I am reminded of the words written by one of my 
congressional predecessors, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, decades ago 
in the very spot where I stand right now. She said: ``Of course, laws 
will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings, but that 
is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our 
laws, to perpetuate injustice through inaction.''
  Mr. Speaker, we are tired of the inaction. We are tired of the 
injustice. We are tired of being tired. So, it is my privilege to join 
the first-ever Congressional Equal Rights Amendment Caucus in history 
and support legislative efforts to affirm the ERA as the 28th amendment 
to the Constitution.
  For decades, Black women have continued to pave the path toward 
ratification, and I am proud to see we are carrying on that legacy 
today.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank every woman who has played a significant and 
substantial role and continues to play their position in this battle 
and in this fight for equal rights. As the Honorable Marcus Garvey 
admonished each and every woman out there: Forward ever, backwards 
never.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Yvette 
Clarke for her outstanding remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of New 
Jersey (Mr. Payne).
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I 
thank my colleague, Mr. Jackson of the great State of Illinois, for the 
opportunity to speak with you today.
  Let me acknowledge my colleagues who are leading this fight, the 
Honorable Cori Bush from the great State of Missouri, the Honorable 
Ayanna Pressley from the great State of Massachusetts, and all the 
women who have held us down in the struggle. There would not be the 
great strides of African-American men if it were not for African-
American women. I understand that, and I appreciate that every day.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the tremendous work of African-
American women in the continued fight to pass the equal rights 
amendment, and I thank, once again, Representative Bush for hosting 
this Special Order hour tonight.
  The equal rights amendment is one of America's most important pieces 
of legislation. The amendment would guarantee equal legal rights for 
all Americans, regardless of gender.
  The Constitution is an amazing document, and it is amazing how many 
people were left out of it. The ERA was written 100 years ago by Alice 
Paul, a New Jersey advocate for women's rights.
  There have been several prominent African-American women who have 
made significant contributions to the Nation's fight for the equal 
rights amendment.
  Pauli Murray was a lawyer and civil rights advocate who wrote the 
book ``States' Laws on Race and Color.'' Supreme Court Justice Thurgood 
Marshall called her book the bible of the civil rights movement.
  Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American woman in Congress, 
and she introduced dozens of bills for gender and racial equality.
  Flo Kennedy challenged the reputation of African Americans in the 
media and advertising.
  Barbara Jordan was a lawyer and the first African-American woman from 
the South to be elected to Congress.

  Many of my congressional colleagues continue their fight for women's 
rights every single day.
  I am proud to be from a State with a long history of support for 
women's rights. In 1790, New Jersey was the first

[[Page H1461]]

State to enfranchise women in its constitution. Then, New Jersey's 
constitution was rewritten in 1947 to include equal rights for women--
but that was only White women. In New Jersey, equal rights have been 
the law for 76 years.
  Thanks to New Jersey's constitution, it is impossible to take those 
rights away. That is why we need a national equal rights amendment.
  I am so proud of the gentlewoman from Missouri for spearheading this 
fight. It would keep extremist legislators from taking the hard-earned 
rights of women away from them.
  If you look now at what is going on in this country, there is an 
effort to take rights away from many people--making it harder for them 
to vote, eliminating polling sites in minority areas, and not allowing 
people to get drinking water handed to them from someone else. There is 
already an assault to turn the clock back.
  Is that what making America great again is all about, returning to a 
day when people don't have equal rights and making sure that minorities 
have a more difficult time exercising their rights?
  Everyone thought that Roe v. Wade was the accepted law of the land, 
and look at where that has gone. It is chipping away at rights slowly 
but surely.
  When African Americans got the right to vote, why was it only for a 
period of 25 years and then we have to revisit this topic every 25 
years: Should we let Blacks vote, or should we not?
  That baffles me. That absolutely baffles me. Why was it not just made 
the law of the land and forget about it?
  It is because of times like now that we see what is going on. We are 
turning the clock back. We are questioning whether or not people should 
have the equal right to vote.
  We are in a very dangerous time in this country. People are arming 
themselves with AR-15s. Someone is requesting that that be made the 
national gun of this country.
  We are in a very dangerous time, and now an extremist Supreme Court 
has taken away the fundamental right for women to determine their own 
healthcare for their own bodies.
  Mr. Speaker, one day my friends on the other side of the aisle say 
that government is too much in your business and your privacy--except 
when they want to take a woman's right to her healthcare. They want 
government to be involved in that. They don't want the government to be 
involved in anything important to them, but they feel that they have 
the right to determine what another woman does with her body. It is 
hypocritical. It is hypocrisy.
  We must not let the legal rights that women deserve to be taken away 
from them. That is why we must pass the ERA, and we must pass it now.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable   Donald 
Payne, Jr., for his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time is remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 18 minutes remaining.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Adams).
  Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank the gentleman from 
Illinois for co-hosting this Special Order hour with the gentlewoman 
from Missouri. I thank Representative Cori Bush as well for 
spearheading the ERA and for working toward this fight for all of us.
  I rise today to observe Women's History Month and to reiterate this 
year's Black History Month theme of Black Resistance.
  Since we last celebrated Black History Month and Women's History 
Month, Ketanji Brown Jackson has become the first Black woman on the 
Supreme Court; Beyonce claimed the record for most Grammys won in a 
lifetime; Serena Williams retired as one of the most accomplished 
athletes of all time; Congresswoman Summer Lee became the first Black 
woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress; and Jennifer McClellan 
became the first Black Congresswoman from Virginia.

                              {time}  2015

  In my home of Charlotte, North Carolina, Vi Lyles made history as 
both the longest serving woman and the longest serving Black mayor in 
our city's history.
  In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, my friend and mentor, the late 
Annie Brown Kennedy, the first Black woman to serve in the North 
Carolina General Assembly, passed away at the age of 98 after a long 
and storied career.
  These women join the legacy of other women we are celebrating here 
today, the women who helped lead the movement for the adoption of the 
equal rights amendment.
  The equal rights amendment is still absolutely necessary because, 
according to the Constitution, we are not equal. Just look at the Dobbs 
decision. Look at all of the legislation from the State to the Federal 
level that aims, intentionally or not, to tell women what they can do 
with their own bodies.
  Look at the maternal health crisis in America. Even as science, 
technology, and healthcare make amazing advances, the number of women 
dying due to childbirth is going in the wrong direction, and Black 
women have mortality rates that are three times that.
  As Women's History Month comes to an end, we must continue to teach 
the history of women--Black women, indigenous women, LGBTQ women, and 
women of color--from the halls of our campuses to the Halls of Congress 
because if you learn women's history, you learn very quickly how far we 
have come and how much further we have to go.
  Each of us have a role in this history. If you learn this history, 
teach it. If you live this history, make it.
  Join me and join us, join the CBC and all of my colleagues in 
renewing the push for the equal rights amendment and equality for women 
not only in the United States but across the world.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable 
Congresswoman Alma Adams for her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Brown).
  Ms. BROWN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my wonderful colleagues in the 
Congressional Black Caucus for organizing this session tonight.
  I join them today in recognizing the significant contributions of 
Black women to the advancement of the equal rights amendment.
  Of the more than 12,000 Americans who have served in Congress, only 
58 have been Black women. Remarkably, despite our historic and 
continuous small number among the Members of the House, Black women 
have often been the driving force behind significant policy shifts that 
have paved the way for change.
  Among those achievements are landmark bills like the equal rights 
amendment, championed by Black women since its inception. A hero of 
many Americans inside and outside Capitol Grounds, Congresswoman 
Shirley Chisholm was a relentless advocate for equal rights in America. 
Nicknamed ``Fighting Shirley,'' she stood on this very floor in her 
first term and decreed that the ERA was destined to become the law of 
the land. Today, we honor her legacy by advocating for the long-overdue 
ratification of the ERA.
  Congresswoman Chisholm did not stand alone in her fight for equal 
rights. From educator and activist Mary Church Terrell in the late 19th 
and early 20th centuries to Congresswoman Barbara Jordan in the 1970s, 
Black advocates for women's suffrage helped drive the ERA forward.
  In recent years, we have seen leaders fight for State ratification of 
the ERA, including our newest colleague, Congresswoman Jennifer 
McClellan, who along with two Black female colleagues--State 
Representative Jennifer Carroll Foy and fellow State Senator Mamie 
Locke--led the final charge that resulted in Virginia being the 38th 
State to ratify the amendment in 2020.
  That legacy lives on, as my colleagues in the 118th Congress maintain 
and build on the work of our predecessors. With Representative 
Pressley's efforts to remove the constitutional deadline for 
ratification and Representative Bush's leadership of the first-ever 
Congressional ERA Caucus, we are closer to ratification than ever 
before.
  I stand in awe of the power, strength, and contributions of these 
trailblazers and icons, both past and present.
  As we continue the fight today, it is an honor to walk alongside my 
Democratic Women's Caucus colleagues to enshrine the ERA in the 
Constitution, continuing the legacy work started by the Black women who 
came before me.
  Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm envisioned the ERA as the law of the 
land

[[Page H1462]]

in 1969. She once said she wanted to be remembered as a woman who dared 
to be a catalyst of change, and she will always be known as just that.
  Like our ancestors Terrell, Chisholm, Jordan, and more, Black women 
will continue to help lead the charge, but we cannot do it alone.
  To my colleagues who have yet to join us in championing equal rights, 
I say to you: Dare to become a catalyst of change with us.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable 
Congresswoman Shontel Brown for her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker I now yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Kamlager-Dove), the Congresswoman from the city of Los Angeles.
  Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my brother and friend, 
Congressman Jackson from the great State of Illinois, for managing this 
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour and standing with his 
sisters.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the work that my CBC 
colleagues are doing as we continue fighting to enshrine the equal 
rights amendment into our Constitution.
  The ERA was sent to the States for ratification in 1972. As we 
reflect on the 100 years since the ERA was first proposed in 1923, 
attempts to ratify the amendment each year have faded. What is old has 
become new again, but the state of gender equality in our country has 
sadly remained unchanged.
  Why all the controversy and why such difficulty in giving women the 
protection of the Constitution that should have been given to us long 
ago?
  It is 2023. There is no reason that an arbitrary deadline should 
prevent women from having basic fundamental rights under the 
Constitution.
  Around the country, women, especially women of color, continue to 
face discrimination in healthcare, in the workforce, in the boardroom, 
in the schools, and in everyday life.
  Enough States have finally ratified the ERA, but it is past time that 
it becomes an official part of our Constitution and gives every woman 
in America full protection under the law.
  If you support women, you should support the ERA. If you don't 
support women, stand up and say why you don't think your mother, 
daughter, sister, aunt, or grandmother deserves equal rights.
  My colleagues, Representatives Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley, have 
led a renewed charge to add a 28th amendment to our Constitution and 
enshrine the ERA into law. I thank them for their commitment to 
confronting gender equality in the face of disheartening challenges.
  The first ever Equal Rights Amendment Caucus is dedicated to this 
cause, and as vice chair and co-lead of Representative Pressley's 
resolution, I stand arm in arm with my colleagues as we bring this 
battle home.
  I am going to say this. This charge is being led by Black women. 
Historically, we are the ones who take up the mantle of equality and 
fight to not only uphold our democracy but to move it forward.
  Abolition, suffrage, civil rights--all of these movements supported 
Black women even though they were not always recognized for their 
leadership and courage. A glaring irony of gender discrimination.
  I am going to say the names again. Mary Church Terrell, Shirley 
Chisholm, Pauli Murray, Nevada Senator Pat Spearman, and even our own 
Jennifer McClellan. These activists have led fierce fights for gender 
equality to uplift Black women and women across the country.
  In fact, Pauli Murray once said: ``If anyone should ask a Negro woman 
in America what has been her greatest achievement, her honest answer 
would be, `I survived.'''
  We must recognize the work of these pioneers as we continue their 
fight today. The ERA would allow Congress, Federal agencies, and courts 
to address the needs of women as they relate to pay equity, pregnancy 
discrimination, sexual harassment and violence, abortion access, and 
LGBTQ protections because women are insulted, harassed, demeaned, 
demoted, and assaulted just for being women.
  Enshrining these rights brings our Constitution into the 21st 
century. We might have been written out, but don't count us out. We 
will persevere until we can finally celebrate the addition of a 28th 
amendment to secure equal rights and a better and brighter future for 
our children and the women that we love.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable 
Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove for her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. 
Lee).
  Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I first acknowledge and thank 
our convener, the gentleman from Illinois. I thank the bold and brave 
women, our colleagues Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley who have put 
together this convening as well. And I also thank all the women on 
whose shoulders we stand, particularly those who brought an 
intersectional perspective and urgency to the fight for all women 
throughout this country, but also adding on to that urgency, a reminder 
that it is Women's History Month in the year 2023, and yet we pretend 
to be surprised that a document written by rich, land-owning White men 
in the 18th century does not protect my rights.
  We pretend to be surprised that a document that saw my Black 
ancestors as property until the 19th century legally does not yet 
empower people who look like me.
  We are oh so surprised that a document that did not allow women the 
right to participate in our democracy through voting, let alone the 
right to have land or a bank account until the 20th century is in need 
of an update.
  Well, I am not surprised. Actually, I am pissed. I stand today as one 
of the vice chairs, the new vice chairs of the ERA Caucus to demand the 
obvious need for a constitutional amendment so that our future 
daughters and granddaughters, mine and yours, are not discussing what 
we failed to do in the 21st century.
  Yes, I stand today frustrated that it is not obvious to all elected 
Members of Congress that the rights of all women, and specifically 
Black women, need to be protected. As we are wrapping Women's History 
Month, I remain steadfast in making sure that our daughters and 
granddaughters of the future do not have to continue to discuss this.
  Constitutional equality is powerful. Women and the States have done 
their part to ratify the ERA, as we have heard, including our new 
colleague, who is joining us in the 118th, but now Congress must 
swiftly follow suit. We must take this action to move one step closer 
to enshrining the dignity, humanity, and equality of all people into 
the highest law of the land.

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. I thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania, 
the Honorable Congresswoman Summer Lee, for her remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. 
McClellan).
  Mrs. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Jackson for 
convening this Special Order and Representatives Cori Bush and Ayanna 
Pressley for their leadership in creating the Congressional ERA Caucus.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the first Black woman to represent 
Virginia, the birthplace of American democracy and the birthplace of 
American slavery.
  I rise as a former State legislator who led Virginia to become the 
38th and final State necessary to ratify the equal rights amendment. It 
is poetic justice that Virginia was the final State necessary for 
ratification.
  It has been a long march toward equality in Virginia's history. In 
1619, when the first women were recruited to Jamestown, it was to make 
wives to the inhabitants, and their rights were surrendered to their 
husbands. They couldn't vote, they couldn't hold public office, they 
couldn't control their own property.
  African-American women who arrived in 1619 were considered property 
and had fewer rights, if any at all.
  In 1776, the Declaration of Independence established the principle 
that all men were created equal with inalienable rights. They didn't 
mean me.
  When the Constitution was developed for we the people in order to 
form a more perfect Union, it didn't include me.
  The Constitution purported to create a government by, of, and for the 
people, but not for me. Only for White men.

[[Page H1463]]

  For the past centuries, we have made major progress to secure the 
blessings of liberty for every American.
  We have made that progress thanks to the struggle and sacrifice of 
Black women who were in the fight from the beginning but were the last 
to benefit from our work. We were there in the fight to abolish 
slavery. As you heard, we were there in the fight for women's suffrage, 
even when we were told to march in the back.

                              {time}  2030

  We marched for civil rights in the 1960s, even though we weren't 
given a speaking role. We have fought, organized, and marched for 
ratification of the equal rights amendment for over a hundred years.
  It is absurd that, a hundred years after the ERA's introduction, 
women still do not have the same constitutional rights as men.
  That is why I am not only committed but honored to carry on this 
fight in Congress with my sisters in this fight, with Representatives 
Bush and Pressley in the Congressional ERA Caucus.
  Women across our Nation have waited too long for equality. It is our 
time. Publish the ERA today so that, tomorrow, our daughters don't have 
to fight the same fight.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Jennifer 
McClellan, our newest Member, for her remarks.
  You heard from our distinguished colleagues about our topic on the 
ERA, all issues of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to avoid vulgarity in 
their remarks.

                          ____________________