Women's Suffrage National Monument Location Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I thank my colleague for her wonderful work on this issue.

Since 2020, we have worked to recognize that 100-year celebration of women achieving the right to vote and to tell these stories. As she said, her State was the first. Tennessee was the 36th State.

Our colleagues who have read about the War of the Roses and that summer of 1920, when suffragists descended on the capital in Nashville. Those who were for suffrage wore a yellow rose. Those who were antis-- as they were called--wore a red rose.

Carrie Chapman Catt, Anne Dallas Dudley, and Ida B. Wells led this fight. And what a fight it was. And, finally, they pushed forward with the 36th State granting ratification.

The histories in our States are rich on this issue, and we want all Americans to appreciate the work that went into women gaining that right to vote.

My colleague mentioned that there are 40 monuments, memorials, statues, and historic sites on the Mall. Not a single one of these 40 are specific to women; while 22 are dedicated to individual men, 10 to military history and veterans, 3 to foreign relations, 2 to private organizations, 1 to U.S. postal history, 1 to the history of the U.S. canals, and 1 to the history of horses. All of these have found their way onto the mall.

What we have done is to work with the Park Service, find a place that would be perfect: The Mall's Constitution Gardens. It is a 50-acre space dedicated during our Nation's bicentennial as a living memorial to the founding of the Republic. In this garden, it is appropriate that we recognize the work of women to help preserve the freedoms and the liberties that we have here in this Nation.

I thank my colleagues for passing this legislation. The House passed it unanimously last year, so it is appropriate as we finish and complete this 118th Congress, that we set aside time and that we pass this legislation to recognize the work--the powerful work--of women who gave so much of their life to support freedom, liberty, and voting rights.

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