Tammy Baldwin: “I rise today to speak to the Women's Suffrage National Monument Location Act to designate the Women's Suffrage National…”

“I rise today to speak to the Women's Suffrage National Monument Location Act to designate the Women's Suffrage National Monument be built on the National Mall. I was proud to introduce this bill with Senator Blackburn, as she and I represent both the first and the final States to ratify the 19th Amendment and grant women the right to vote across the Nation. The National Mall honors some of the most important features of our shared American story. Conspicuously absent from this portrayal of our Nation's history, however, is the story of women's suffrage. In fact, the National Mall receives over 24 million visitors annually, and despite there being 40 commemorative works on the National Mall, none of those are dedicated to women. We have introduced this legislation to correct this glaring omission on the National Mall. Women's suffrage was only made possible through the fight of multiple generations of activists of all backgrounds, who joined together with the steadfast belief that our country must live up to its highest democratic ideals. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, where they declared ``that all men and women are created equal.'' Sojourner Truth gave her famous ``Ain't I a woman'' speech in 1851, where she challenged the women's suffrage movement to include Black women. Susan B.…”