Removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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).

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).

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).

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. Speaker, I thank the Honorable Donald Payne, Jr., for his remarks.

Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable Congresswoman Alma Adams for her remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Brown).

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.

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).

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).

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.

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

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. 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. 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.