[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY

 Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in 
recognition of the 95th anniversary of the passage of the 19th 
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, granting voting rights for women. I 
ask my colleagues to join me in marking August 26, known as Women's 
Equality Day, a significant landmark in American history as we 
acknowledge, honor, and celebrate the vast and vital contributions that 
women have made to our country.
  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and other dedicated supporters 
for women's equality convened the First Women's Rights Convention on 
July 1848 in Seneca Falls, NY. They advocated for the right to own 
property, protection from domestic violence, and other social reforms 
that promoted equality, including voting, and never wavered in that 
pursuit. Stanton wrote a Declaration of Sentiments that called for 
``all men and women'' to be recognized as created equal under the law, 
thus beginning the 72-year struggle for suffrage that ended in 1920.
  Mr. President, 2015 is the bicentennial year for Elizabeth Cady 
Stanton, who was born November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, NY. Celebrations 
of her extraordinary life are taking place throughout the year. Stanton 
met Susan B. Anthony in 1851, and they began a 50-year partnership 
advocating for suffrage and women's equality; however, both women did 
not live to see the passage of the 19th Amendment. As the mother of 
seven children, Mrs. Stanton can be proud of the legacy she left to her 
descendants, one of whom is today spearheading a committee tasked with 
placing a new statue of these two amazing leaders in New York. They 
gave a voice to millions of women and changed history forever following 
Anthony's vow that ``failure is impossible.''
  A unique crossroad of history resides at 77th and Central Park West 
in New York City with statues of two U.S. Presidents, Theodore 
Roosevelt astride a horse outside the American Museum of Natural 
History and Abraham Lincoln who stands on the steps of the New-York 
Historical Society. Near Lincoln is a statue of abolitionist Frederick 
Douglass symbolically carrying books at a building that safeguards 
history. I am pleased to announce that permission was granted in May 
2015 for a suffragist statue to be installed at the West 77th Street 
entrance to Central Park. It will be the very first statue of a woman 
in this park's 160-year history.
  New York City park commissioner Mitchell J. Silver awarded this site 
for a statue of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, pioneering 
leaders of the women's suffrage movement. Included in the sculpture 
design are the names of many remarkable women instrumental in the fight 
toward winning the vote. Its installation in September 2017 will 
coincide with New York State's centennial of women's voting rights. The 
New-York Historical Society announced that in the transformation of its 
fourth floor there would be a new Center for the Study of Women's 
History that will present special exhibitions, as well as public and 
scholarly programs.
  Over 50 million visitors each year are welcomed to New York City, 
with over half reporting they spend time in Central Park. Placing the 
Stanton and Anthony statue at this highly visible locale that resonates 
social justice will undoubtedly draw local residents and visitors of 
all nations to history lessons that include the story of the equal 
rights and suffrage movements in America.
  I ask that we give tribute on August 26, 2015, the 95th anniversary 
of the passage of the 19th Amendment, to the early suffragists who were 
steadfast in their pursuit of equality for all citizens, which is a 
sacred trust that we must continue to support today.

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