Recognizing the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1375) recognizing the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to add extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

House Resolution 1375, introduced by the Honorable Jim Cooper of Tennessee, recognizes the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment, of course, is the Amendment that gave women the right to vote in this United States, and it was not until 1920 that women got that right to vote.

We didn't start off as a perfect Union. It's taken a lot of time, and we're still working toward becoming that perfect Union.

The 19th Amendment was ratified with the perfect 36th State, which happened to be Tennessee, the last State that could make it by three- quarters of the States needed. There were 48 at the time. Thirty-five had done it. The rest had said they wouldn't. Tennessee was on the spot, and it became the perfect 36th and gave women the right to vote.

It was an historic vote that took place in the Tennessee State capitol. Probably the most historic vote that's ever occurred in that capitol. One of which, a bas-relief on the wall, which I worked on getting placed there, commemorates that event when that vote took place.

One of my relatives, Mr. Joe Hanover, managed the bill in the House. And the Senate, of which I was a member, and Lady Blackburn, the Congresswoman on the other side, was also a member of that esteemed body, the State Senate in Tennessee voted with overwhelming numbers to approve the resolution. It was in the House where sometimes they have problems--unlike what we experience here in Washington--where they had difficulty getting the votes together.

And it was about an even vote until the last minute. And a Republican from upper east Tennessee named Harry Burn got a missive from his mother that said, ``Harry, do the right thing.'' And Harry did the right thing, and he cast that vote and it passed by one vote. So women have the right to vote because of the perfect 36th, the State of Tennessee in 1920, August of that year. And it was by one vote.

So it's an important story not only of how far this country has come, because our Constitution, as great as it was, didn't give women the right to vote. It permitted slavery, didn't give women the right to vote, and a lot of other problems. And it took a lot of efforts and civil rights and women's rights and human rights and all to bring us to where we're getting today. We still have a ways to go. But it also says how important one vote is, because one vote made that difference.

Prior to the ratification of the 19th Amendment, only a handful of States allowed women to vote at all, and that was in certain elections. But even those modest gains were the product of decades of struggle by women's suffrage supporters. There were early events, such as the Women's Rights Convention convened in Seneca Falls,

New York, in 1848, and it helped encourage women's suffrage supporters to organize for full participatory rights throughout the State. And during the late 19th century, thousands of women's suffrage supporters nationwide marched, lobbied, and engaged in peaceful civil disobedience in the name of equal voting rights.

A resolution proposing an amendment extending the right of suffrage to women was first introduced in Congress in 1878, but it was not until 1916 that almost all major women's suffrage groups united behind a constitutional amendment. Yes, it was 42 years--even longer than it took to amend the Tennessee Constitution to get a lottery--42 years it took to get this amendment to a vote.

When New York enacted full women's suffrage in 1917 and President Woodrow Wilson announced his support for an amendment in 1918, the political tide finally turned in favor of a nationwide effort. And on June 4, 1919, the 66th Congress of the United States proposed to the legislatures of the several States the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

A year later on August 20, 1920, Tennessee became that perfect 36th State to pass and ratify that amendment, thus fulfilling the three- fourth requirements.

Today, House Resolution 1375 honors the generation of women's suffrage activists who persevered through adversity and doubt to secure the rightful place of women in our democracy. This resolution also serves to reaffirm this body's commitment nine decades later pursuing policies that achieve true political and social equality for women.

There is, of course, in the Rotunda a statuary of some of the great leaders in this movement. And I think it took years to get that placed in the Capitol on the second floor in the Rotunda to honor their work.

I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Congresswoman Blackburn brings up some interesting history. And it reminds me Brownlow was probably related to Parson Brownlow, who was the somewhat reviled governor of Tennessee during the Civil War period. And Senator Henry said some very awful things about Governor Brownlow and the things he did to the women of Nashville and the jeopardy he placed them in. I am sure that was some kind of secondary reprisal as this relative of Brownlow jailed the women that wanted the vote. He had put the women in danger during the Civil War. And Senator Henry talked about that on many occasions on the floor, as I am sure you remember.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy).

I yield such time as he may consume to the author of this resolution, the gentleman who represents the area where this historic Amendment was passed in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, the Honorable Jim Cooper.

Mr. Speaker, I too would like to thank Mr. Cooper for bringing this resolution. It's important that it be recognized on this occasion. I thank Mr. Smith, who was a distinguished leader. We like to think of Texas as southwest Tennessee, because we did so much to create it. So you are like a cousin and part of this great celebration. And Congresswoman Blackburn, who served with me in the Senate, she brought up the singular vote. She brought up the second one. I thought she was going to bring up the lottery, where she was one of my essential 22, and I continue to thank her for that.

With the memory of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony whose visages remain in the Rotunda, I would ask that we all vote positively in favor of this resolution and pass the resolution as presented here, H. Res. 1375. I ask for an ``aye'' vote.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his kind remarks about the 19th Amendment. And as the only woman in our Tennessee delegation, and on behalf of the women from Tennessee who have preceded me in service to this body, Louise Reece, Irene Baker, and Marilyn Lloyd, I treasure the role that our State played in ratifying the 19th Amendment. I will note that we still in Tennessee have not had a woman from our State serve in the Senate, in that body, nor have we had a female take the office of governor in our State.

We have all heard the story about that wonderful day in August 1920. And indeed, as Mr. Cohen was saying, it was a thrilling day in our State's history. This Chamber knows well the story of Tennessee Representative Harry Burn and how he received that message, how he changed the rose on his lapel to a yellow rose, and then how he changed his vote. And that was a swing vote that did indeed change history.

I want to tell you about another swing vote that helped to set the stage in the suffrage story. And it is one that is important to our State of Tennessee, and it is one that transpired right here in this Chamber 91 years ago. Representative Thetus Sims was born in Wayne County, Tennessee. He lived in Savannah, Tennessee, and he practiced law over in Perry County, Tennessee. He later represented all of those counties and some others that today are represented by Mr. Davis and Mr. Tanner and Mr. Gordon, as well as the portions of his district I represent.

Now, Mr. Sims was the first Member of this Chamber to occupy 217 Cannon, which is the office that I now occupy in the Cannon House Office Building. Ninety-one years ago, before the 19th Amendment could go to the States for ratification, it had to be discharged from this Chamber. The first attempt to do that was in 1915, and it failed. Thetus Sims voted against the 19th Amendment at that point in time.

Well, he had the opportunity to vote again on the 19th Amendment in 1918. And it was a very dramatic day right here in this Chamber. It was perhaps one of the most important days that had transpired in this Chamber. Supporters of the amendment were unsure they had the votes to discharge the amendment. The galleries around us were packed with suffragettes. They were packed with journalists. Everyone was watching. On that day, Thetus Sims surprised the Nation.

Between 1915 and 1918, the suffrage movement had heated up not only here in D.C., but all across the Nation. Riots had broken out here in D.C., and women were jailed for wanting the right to vote. The D.C. commissioner who put them behind bars was a gentleman named Louis Brownlow. Louis Brownlow was Thetus Sims' son-in-law. With such influences, it is hard to see how Thetus Sims could see his way to vote ``yes'' on this amendment.

But Louis Brownlow wasn't the only person talking to Thetus Sims at the family dinner table. Congressman Sims also had daughters. And in Washington, the Sims daughters were known as consummate hostesses. Back in Tennessee, everyone knew them for being crack shots with their rifles. Well, here in D.C. Elizabeth Sims was a suffragist leader. And her arguments evidently beat out those of her husband, Louis Brownlow.

So the day finally came in 1918. And on his way to the vote, Thetus Sims took a very bad fall, and he broke his collarbone. He refused to have it set or to take pain killers for fear he would miss the vote. So, he came to the floor and he flipped his vote. He voted ``aye,'' and he became the hero of the day.

Well, needless to say I am very proud of Thetus Sims' vote that day. I am grateful for how he represented Tennessee. And I am so pleased that he listened to his iron-jawed angel daughter, and that he voted for women. I am honored to represent much of that district now, and I am honored to occupy his office, 217 Cannon.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

(Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) for his leadership on this issue and for bringing forward this memorializing resolution for us to remind--it's a great way for us to continue to remind our citizens of the importance that our State played in passing the 19th Amendment. I thank Mr. Cohen for his leadership in managing the time and the preparation for presenting this Amendment today.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I want to acknowledge the gentlelady from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for her comments. You know, history is so important because it teaches us about the future. And we might think this is a 90-year-old piece of history dug up out of the past that we are just reflecting on. But we all know right now that it wasn't until this last three cycles that we had the election of the first woman Speaker of the House in the history of this great democracy, arguably one of the most powerful offices in the Constitution, leading the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And that one of the first items she had to take on as a Speaker was the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act. So you know, we are talking about 90 years ago, and yet up until this day we are still fighting about whether women ought to get equal pay for equal work. That was not something that was a fait accompli in terms of a bill that would have been passed.

But it just shows you we think we live in times where all of the great battles in the history of civil rights are behind us because they happened, oh, during the 1960s, or they happened back in the early 1920s, or they happened way back then. You know what? They're happening now.

We had an historic election in 2008, the election of the first African American President of the United States. When I go to my schools around my district, majority-minority, they finally say, ``We belong in America.'' Because just as it was empowering for women to finally know they had a legal seat at the table, it wasn't just the legalese that mattered, it was the spirit of the law. And what matters is the

message that it sends to all of our people that this is a country that's in constant dynamic motion in terms of always trying to improve itself, expand the circle of opportunity for people who have been previously shunted aside in our country. And I think that it's a wonderful opportunity today to celebrate what makes us the greatest country on the face of the earth.

We might not always get it right, but we're going to get it right because we're a country that moves forward, that has progress, that's constantly striving to make it better. People put us down all over the world. They put us down here all over our own country. We're the greatest country in the world. We're the model where everywhere people want to come here because of things like we're celebrating today. Because you know what? For most people in the world the notion of a political right is a foreign notion. The notion of equal rights is a foreign notion. Human dignity, human rights are foreign notions.

We may not always get it right, but we ultimately will get it if we stick to it, and we remember things like this as guideposts as to how we need to continue the constant fight to move our country ever forward in the promise that Dr. King laid out in his ``I Have a Dream'' speech that we could all be treated as we ourselves would want to be treated someday. You know, because there but for the grace of God go each and every one of us. It's a human dignity issue.

One of the false things that keep us behind in life, perceptions, those are irrelevant when we talk about things like this because we finally recognize what makes our country great is we are not going to segregate, we are not going to discriminate. We are going to elevate every human being no matter their gender, their color, their creed, their disability or ability, for that matter.

This is a country that's about everybody. As this President said last week, it's not us versus them. In this country it's all us, Barack Obama, President of the United States, and, boy, is he right. Girl, is he right.

Thank God in America it doesn't matter if you are shut out because someday, because of our Constitution in this great country, we might be able to get a way in for everybody if they have something going against them. And the women fought the fight, African Americans, minorities, people with physical disabilities through the ADA. It's a constant fight. Everybody owes a debt of gratitude to everyone else for making our country a freer, more equal place for all people to live.

I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee, a former member of the Judiciary Committee, for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1375, recognizing the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I support House Resolution 1375, which recognizes the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and honors the contributions of women in United States politics.

The 19th Amendment prohibits the Federal Government and the States from denying a citizen's right to vote on account of sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920.

For more than a century after our Nation's founding, women lacked the right to vote. However, throughout this time women participated in politics. Their many contributions paved the way for the eventual ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Many women played significant roles in the abolitionist movement, for example. It was after Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were denied admission to an anti-slavery conference that they organized the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.

The convention's Declaration of Sentiments stated that ``all men and women are created equal.'' This served as a foundational document in the women's suffrage movement that followed.

After the 15th Amendment in 1870 outlawed the denial of a citizen's right to vote on account of race, women sought an amendment for women's suffrage.

Such an amendment would not come for another 50 years. During this period, women continued to remain active in politics. They voiced their concerns not only with regard to women's rights, but also on behalf of other causes such as the temperance movement.

In 1916, Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She became the first female Member of Congress. While many women still did not have the right to vote throughout the country, Montana afforded women the right to vote at that time.

Finally, in 1918 President Woodrow Wilson announced his support for a women's suffrage amendment. Congress passed the proposed amendment in 1919. On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee General Assembly became the 36th State legislature to ratify it, making it the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In the decades that followed, women not only voted, but they slowly began to enter politics as State and Federal legislators and holders of elective executive posts.

In 1931, Hattie Wyatt Caraway (Democrat, Arkansas) was appointed to the U.S. Senate, succeeding her late husband. She later became the first woman ever elected to the Senate, where she served two full terms.

The women's rights movement grew significantly in the 1960s and 1970s. But in 1979, women still only occupied 3 percent of the seats in Congress, 10 percent of the seats in State legislatures, and 11 percent of statewide elective executive offices, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

Today, while there is still room for much progress, women hold nearly 17 percent of the seats in Congress and the number of women in State legislatures and statewide elective offices has more than doubled.

House Resolution 1375 recognizes that the full participatory rights of women are vital to democracy in the United States.

This resolution honors the historic impact of the 19th Amendment and the achievements of women in politics.

It also reaffirms the commitment of the House of Representatives to pursuing this equality for women.

I am pleased to support this resolution. I urge my colleagues to share their support as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the actions of the House of Representatives in recognizing the importance of the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment I strongly support H. Res. 1375, which recognizes the significance of women fully participating in democracy in the United States, honors the contributions and achievements of women in United States politics, and reaffirms the House's commitment to political and social equality for all women.

On Election Day, in 1920, millions of American women had the chance to exercise their right to vote for the first time. Ninety years ago, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to our Constitution was ratified guaranteeing women the right to vote. As the House celebrates this special moment in history, it is important to remember the contributions of those leaders in the women's suffrage movement--Ida B. Wells, and Alice Paul.

Some women, like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone, were not alive in 1920 when women were granted the right to vote and participate in American politics. Nonetheless, they were women's rights activists who were at the heart of the women's suffrage movement. Their perseverance and persistence laid the ground work which led to the right of every American woman to vote.

While there is still work to be done, women have made tremendous strides toward equality in the United States. At this very moment, we have three women sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States, a female Secretary of State, and a strong woman serving as Speaker of the House. Women are in leadership positions all over the country. In my home State of Georgia, DeKalb District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming was recently appointed, by the President, to be the next Southeast Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Ultimately, women's rights are not just women's rights, but human rights that benefit the entire human race. This chamber must continue to ensure that equal rights apply to all Americans regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, or socioeconomic status.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H. Res. 1375 and urge my colleagues to do the same.