[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15273-15274]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               90TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today in honor of the 90th 
anniversary of women gaining the right to vote on August 26, 1920, and 
to acknowledge the celebration of this anniversary by the community of 
Las Cruces, NM.
  The struggle for the right to vote began in 1848 at a convention in 
Seneca Falls, NY, hosted by Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann McClintock, and 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This convention began the seventy-two year 
struggle by women to win the right to vote, which was also a struggle 
to rise from second class citizenship and a struggle to gain equality. 
Women throughout the United States are empowered by the efforts of the 
brave and pioneering suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, 
and Alice Paul. These women serve as an inspiration to those who secure 
leadership positions in industry, government, the military, and 
academia.
  Las Cruces was founded in 1849 and became a town of the Territory of 
New Mexico in 1907. After gaining the right to vote, the women of Las 
Cruces sought elected office. These women include Bertha Paxton, who 
was the first female elected to the New Mexico State House of 
Representatives in 1922, Mrs. E. C. Wade, who was the first female 
elected as a Trustee in the town of Las Cruces in 1932, Ellen Steele, 
who was the first female elected as a New Mexico State Senator in 1985 
from Dona Ana County and Dolores C. Archuleta who was the first Native 
American female elected to the Las Cruces City Council in 2001. In 
continuation of this tradition, the first female Governor will be 
elected by New Mexicans on November 2, 2010.
  To celebrate and commemorate the 90th anniversary of the ratification 
of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, women will continue to 
advocate for responsible and responsive government through the election 
process. The League of Women Voters of Greater Las Cruces will hold a 
celebration with an informative panel on women's history of performance 
and films on the suffragists and the role of women in the political 
system to further commemorate this praiseworthy day.
  I join with the League of Women Voters, the people of Las Cruces, and 
the people of New Mexico in celebration of this important day, August 
26 when women finally won the right to vote and greatly enhanced their 
great contributions to our government and our society.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, tomorrow marks the 45th anniversary of the 
Voting Rights Act, a landmark piece of legislation which helped 
guarantee the right to vote to all Americans. As we approach the 
upcoming midterm elections, it is important to remember the journey of 
voting rights in America. Without this right, words and phrases like 
``democracy,'' ``land of the free,'' and ``equality'' lack true 
meaning.
  The right to vote traveled a long ugly road--a road we must all 
remember. Edmund Burke once said ``those who do not remember history 
are destined to repeat it.'' Some would say they are doomed to repeat 
it. For this reason, on this day and every day, we should remember how 
Americans, Black and White; young and old; men and women; stood, 
marched and fought together for equal access to the voting booth. We 
must ensure that all barriers to voting are removed.
  There are many people who contributed to the voting rights movement. 
Today I would like to highlight one woman--Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, a 
woman who was ``sick and tired of being sick and tired'' when it came 
to the denial of equal voting rights. Hamer, a great American hero, led 
a life most people could not imagine today. Despite having polio and 
only 4 months of schooling, Hamer became a matriarch of the voting 
rights movement.
  On August 31, 1962, Hamer decided to exercise her constitutional 
right to vote by traveling 26 miles in Mississippi to register only to 
be confronted by the highway patrol and literary test requirements. 
After being denied her right to vote she didn't just sit down, she 
stood up and joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and 
traveled all across the country speaking and registering other people 
to vote.
  Hamer also helped organize ``Freedom Summer'' in 1964. She and 
thousands of civil rights supporters, many of them White college 
students, traveled to Mississippi and other Southern States to try to 
end the long time political disenfranchisement of African Americans in 
the region. Despite these nonviolent efforts for equality, on the very 
first day of Freedom Summer, three volunteers were brutally murdered. 
As America continued to march toward equality the Nation and its 
political leaders began to realize the horrific battle being waged 
against African Americans seeking equal treatment under the law.
  As violence and frustration mounted, President Johnson pushed 
Congress to act and pass voting rights legislation. After research, 
multiple hearings and the longest filibuster in Senate history, 
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This bill provided all 
Americans--regardless of color--with nationwide protections against 
barriers and access to the voting booth. It contained protections 
against systematic methods of disenfranchisement by States and 
localities. Since its enactment, Congress has reauthorized the landmark 
legislation in an effort to remain vigilant against any forms of 
disenfranchisement.

[[Page 15274]]

  In 2006, when Congress last took up reauthorization of this 
legislation, civil rights leader Congressman John Lewis said, ``forty-
one years ago I gave a little blood on that bridge. So when I see 
what's happening in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, it's a beginning of 
an effort not only to violate the letter but the spirit of the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965. And that must not be allowed to happen.'' With 
overwhelming bipartisan support, the House of Representatives passed 
the bill by a vote of 390-33 and the U.S. Senate passed the bill by a 
vote of 98-0.
  Despite the bipartisan support and a large array of evidence 
demonstrating the continuing need for this legislation, some have 
argued that this legislation is no longer warranted. To those people, I 
say you are wrong. I have seen examples in my own State that prove how 
necessary this legislation is today. During my Senate campaign, just 4 
years ago--the very same time the Congress was providing near unanimous 
support for the Voting Rights Act--I had the unfortunate experience of 
witnessing deceptive practices and tactics used to undermine the 
constitutional right to vote. Lines were inexplicably longer and slower 
at polling locations in African-American districts and not simply 
because there were more people voting. Phone calls were made to 
minority districts reminding them to vote on Wednesday, not Tuesday; 
and a fraudulent sample ballot was targeted to confuse minority voters. 
I remind you that this was in 2006, not 1956.
  Just two years later, in the 2008 election, substantial barriers were 
implemented making it difficult for eligible voters to vote. These 
included the purging of voter rolls, misleading voter information and 
voter intimidation. Take for example, an election administrator in 
Mississippi improperly purging approximately 10,000 voters from the 
rolls from her home computer; or the local prosecutor in Ohio who 
requested via subpoena personal information for 40 percent of voters 
who had registered during the same day registration and voting period 
in the State. These are real examples of incidents occurring today--45 
years after we passed the Voting Rights Act.
  Despite attempts to ignore or chip away at the protections provided 
to all Americans by the Voting Rights Act, this legislation remains 
relevant and provides the most significant and essential tool in 
ensuring continuity and the integrity of our democratic system. Our 
former colleague Ted Kennedy once said we need to ``seek the reign of 
justice in which voting rights and equal protection of the law will 
everywhere be enjoyed.'' On this 45th anniversary of the Voting Rights 
Act, I urge my colleagues to continue their bipartisan support for this 
critical legislation and for equal access to the voting booth for all.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on behalf of 
the women of America to recognize, honor, and celebrate the 90th 
anniversary of their voting rights on August 26, 2010--Women's Equality 
Day. I know my colleagues join me, in acknowledging the tremendous 
contributions women have made to America and the historic significance 
of reaching this milestone in women's history.
  The 72-year struggle of suffragists, from the first women's rights 
convention held in Seneca Falls, NY, in July 1848 to the passage of the 
19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920, bears 
witness to the sacrifice and dedication of the leaders of the early 
women's rights movement who never wavered from their intent to reach 
the goal of full enfranchisement.
  We must thank Elizabeth Cady Stanton, born in 1815 in Johnstown, NY, 
who organized the first women's rights convention with Lucretia Mott 
and other courageous women in 1848. Their early advocacy for voting 
rights, protection from domestic violence, the right to own property, 
and other social reforms that promoted equality are what we continue to 
support for women today. The ``Declaration of Sentiments'' speech Mrs. 
Stanton delivered at that July convention called for ``all men and 
women'' to be recognized as created equal under the law. Her celebrated 
50-year partnership that began in 1851 with Susan B. Anthony brought to 
the public consciousness the importance of equality rights for women. 
That is a sacred trust we must continue to support.
  On August 26, 1970--the 50th anniversary--the National Organization 
of Women, NOW, called upon women nationwide to strike for equality in 
protest of the fact that women still did not have equal rights, 40 
years after passage of the 19th amendment. In New York City, 50,000 
women marched down Fifth Avenue to demonstrate in support of the 
women's movement and securing equality rights, as did women in 40 other 
cities across America that day. U.S. Representative Bella Abzug 
addressed the NYC crowd and was instrumental in getting Congress in 
1971 to officially recognize August 26 as Women's Equality Day.
  In 1776, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, sent an urgent message to 
her husband, who was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, 
stating: ``In the new Code of Laws, I desire you would remember the 
ladies.'' It took 144 years for women's equality rights to be 
sanctioned by Congress, and I ask, Mr. President, that we take this 
opportunity on August 26, 2010, to honor this 90th anniversary and the 
remarkable contributions women have made to this country. The American 
people owe a debt of gratitude to the early suffragists for remaining 
steadfast in the face of overwhelming opposition in advocacy on behalf 
of the equality rights for all American citizens that our Constitution 
supports today.

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