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Antoinette Brown Blackwell

Floor Speech

Date: May 20, 2025
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Antoinette Brown Blackwell, a trailblazer born in my district in Henrietta, New York, and the first woman ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the United States.

Antoinette dedicated her life to justice, equality and faith. She captivated audiences as a lecturer on women's rights and temperance and preached wherever she was welcome. In 1850, she proudly stood at the first National Women's Rights Convention.

Committed to voting rights, she lobbied President Theodore Roosevelt for suffrage and remained a steadfast advocate for women. At age 95, she cast her very first vote, proof her decades of advocacy helped transform our Nation.

She was a minister, a reformer, a writer, and, above all, a woman of courage and conviction. We remember Antoinette Brown Blackwell not just for what she achieved but for the path she paved for generations to follow.

Let us honor her on her 200th birthday and follow in her footsteps as we fight to protect every American's right to vote.

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