[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3714-3715]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I rise today in recognition of Women's 
History Month. As an outgrowth of International Women's Day, the 
Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of 
Women planted the seeds of Women's History Month during the week of 
March 8, 1978. The task force established an agenda of events and 
celebrations that included a multicultural perspective recognizing the 
contributions made by all women. Soon thereafter the idea spread, as 
many Sonoma area schools began holding similar week-long programs.
  In 1979, Molly Murphy MacGregor, Director of the Sonoma County 
Commission, spoke so eloquently during a Women's History Institute 
Conference about the importance of this recognition that, by the end of 
the conference, participants vowed to promote the idea of Women's 
History Week within their own organizations and to secure a 
Congressional Resolution declaring the week of March 8, National 
Women's History Week.
  By the end of 1980, Maryland's own Senator Barbara Mikulski, then a 
Member of Congress, sponsored a joint congressional resolution 
declaring the week of March 8 as National Women's History Week. That 
same year, President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential message to 
encourage recognition and celebration of women's historic 
accomplishments during the week of March 8.
  In 1987, at the request of women's organizations, educators, and 
others, the National Women's History Project petitioned Congress to 
expand these celebrations to the entire month of March. Upon bipartisan 
approval of the National Women's History Month Resolution, National 
History Month was born, affording us the opportunity to focus each year 
on areas of accomplishment and inspiration--and to honor the many great 
women leaders from our past and present who have served our Nation so 
well.
  As scientists, writers, doctors, teachers, and mothers, women have 
shaped our world and guided us down the road to prosperity and peace. 
For far too long, however, their contributions to the strength and 
character of our society went unrecognized and undervalued.
  Women have led efforts to secure not only their own rights, but have 
also been the guiding force behind many of the other major social 
movements of our time--the abolitionist movement, the industrial labor 
movement, and the civil rights movement, to name a few. We also have 
women to thank for the establishment of many of our early charitable, 
philanthropic, and cultural institutions.
  I would like to take this time to single out a few women from the 
State of Maryland whose work and accomplishments are very much in line 
with this year's theme ``Women Inspiring Hope and Possibility.'' These 
individuals are from different professions, different age groups, 
different backgrounds, but they all represent what it means to inspire.
  Edith Houghton Hooker, a member of the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame, 
truly embodied this year's theme. Ms. Houghton Hooker was convinced 
that progressive reform would occur much more quickly and completely if 
women achieved the right to vote. In 1909, in the midst of Maryland's 
suffrage movement, Hooker organized the Just Government League and 
affiliated her organization with the National American Woman Suffrage 
Association, NAWSA. In 1910, the defeat of suffrage in the Maryland 
General Assembly led Hooker and others to believe that, although they 
should continue to urge suffrage legislation at the State level, the 
passage of a national constitutional amendment should be the priority 
of their organization's efforts. Ms. Houghton Hooker also realized 
early on that while there were several local and statewide suffrage 
organizations, these groups would have to present a united front in 
Annapolis and that activists would have to engage in an effective and 
collaborative public information campaign.
  With that in mind, in 1912, she created the Maryland Suffrage News as 
the official organ of the Just Government League, which served to 
address each of those needs: unity, a statewide presence, and public 
information. The News became the weekly voice, not just for the Just 
Government League, but for the entire suffrage movement in Maryland. In 
addition to developments regarding suffrage, the News informed its 
subscribers, most of whom were from the middle class, of the needs and 
circumstances of working class women, and the problems associated with 
education, crime and corruption. And, in 1917, largely because of her 
work in growing the News, Hooker was named President of the Maryland 
Suffrage Party of Baltimore. Now, the many bound volumes of the 
Maryland Suffrage News reside in the Maryland Historical Society, where 
our generation and future generations can learn about the struggles of 
the suffrage movement, the dedication of suffragists, and the 
importance of the result.
  The late Rachel Carson, another Maryland woman and scientist, 
inspired the Nation as pioneer of the modern conservation movement. 
Carson, a well-known naturalist, wrote Silent Spring, which became a 
key symbol of the new environmental movement in this country. After 
World War II, Ms. Carson became concerned about the increased use of 
synthetic chemical pesticides and took it upon herself to alert a 
national audience to the environmental and human dangers of haphazard 
use of these chemicals.
  In the tradition of women inspiring and helping others, I would be 
remiss if I failed to mention Clara Barton, founder and first president 
of the American Red Cross. While recuperating from illness in Europe, 
she learned of the Treaty of Geneva, which provided relief to sick and 
wounded soldiers. Upon her return to the U.S., her crusading ensured 
the signing of the Geneva Treaty in 1882. Ms. Barton founded the 
American Red Cross in 1881, where she served as its first president. 
Several years later, she wrote the American Amendment to the Red Cross 
Constitution, which provided for disaster relief during peacetime as 
well as war. As part of her legacy, the American Red Cross continues to 
provide relief work in times of famines, floods, and earthquakes in the 
United States and throughout the world.
  I also want to mention some of today's heroes from Maryland. Sol de 
Ande Mendez Eaton serves as an activist for the Maryland Hispanic/
Latino community. Ms. Eaton convened the

[[Page 3715]]

first Maryland Statewide conference on civil rights as co-chair of the 
Maryland Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She 
has worked at the local and State level as a pioneer in the areas of 
women's health and domestic violence. Every day, she continues to 
inspire us to work for the rights of others by seeking to reduce 
discrimination in employment, housing, education and health.
  June Bacon-Bercey, another Marylander, the first African American 
woman to receive a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences, inspires us as well. 
As a television forecaster, she is also the first African American 
woman, and indeed the first woman to receive the American 
Meteorological Service Seal for television-radio weather-casting. In 
1979, Ms. Bacon-Bercey became Chief Administrator of Television 
Activities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.
  She is a scientist, an international expert on weather and aviation, 
as well as a wife and mother. Recognizing the difficulties that other 
women would face in pursuing her profession, she has chosen to go 
beyond her substantial personal achievement to help other women reach 
their goals in weather-related professions. In fact, she donated her 
winnings from a game show to create a scholarship plan for young women 
wanting to join meteorology. In view of this year's theme, I commend 
Ms. Bacon-Bercey not only for her example and inspiration to other 
women, but for her generosity in directly helping others reach their 
dreams.
  Since the first woman received a medical degree from a United States 
medical school, in 1848, female doctors have helped shape and change 
the course of medicine. A model physician in the State of Maryland, Dr. 
Marie Amos Dobyns, has worked in Maryland for over 20 years and served 
over 3,000 patients. As an Eastern Cherokee Native American, she 
integrates her heritage into her medical practice and her vision of a 
partnership between patient and physician has inspired would-be 
physicians across the country to seek out innovative approaches to 
offering comprehensive patient-centered care.
  I am privileged to speak in honor of the mothers, wives, daughters, 
friends and neighbors that have inspired and opened up possibilities 
for us all. We should take this month to redouble our efforts to ensure 
that their work has not been for naught. In that regard, I ask us all 
to take Women's History Month as a time to reflect on the contributions 
of women, but also as a time to refocus on how much needs to be 
accomplished to achieve full equality.

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