Women's History Museum

Floor Speech

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of Women's History Month. On March 13, my colleagues joined together on the House floor to call for the passage of H.R. 863, which would call for a commission to study the potential creation of a national women's history museum in our Nation's Capital.

They discussed the critical need for the museum and recognized the many women who have shaped our Nation. My colleagues are historic women in their own right. Today, I am proud to join them in voicing my support for H.R. 863.

H.R. 863 would establish a commission to study and recommend a plan of action for the establishment and maintenance of a national women's history museum here in Washington, D.C.

The National Women's History Museum will be the first of its kind to celebrate women's history and women's contributions to the United States. It will not cost the Federal Government a dime since every cent will be privately raised.

Why is it necessary? Well, from our Nation's founding, women have played a crucial role, providing numerous contributions to help create and reinforce this great foundation of our Nation. Women have changed the course of history, and we are long overdue in celebrating and recognizing them and their accomplishments.

Women's history is largely missing from textbooks, from memorials, from museum exhibits, and from many other venues. Of the 210 statues in the United States Capitol, only nine are of female leaders.

Less than 5 percent of the 2,400 national historic landmarks chronicle women's achievement, and a recent survey of some 18 history textbooks found that only 10 percent of the individuals identified in the text were women.

What about New York and its role--my home State? Well, the women's suffrage movement had its roots in upstate New York that I proudly represent. Certainly, the start of what would become a nationwide movement for women's rights in the United States was staked in Seneca Falls, New York, and began in 1848.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, all who have made their voices heard for the empowerment of women, claim New York as their home State. Let's make sure their stories continue to be told.

Countless outstanding women in the capital region have stories that every American should know. Let me cite one, Shirley Ann Jackson, in the capital region of New York that I represent.

Shirley Ann Jackson--Dr. Jackson, President Jackson of RPI--is a renowned American physicist, who in 1973 graduated from MIT with a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics, becoming the very first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in MIT's history.

She currently serves as President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, and she continues to advocate on behalf of women and minorities in the sciences. Her story should be told.

There are countless stories that need to be told. I will continue to proudly support the creation of a national women's history museum and H.R. 863.

When visitors from the capital region of New York come to our Nation's Capital, they should have the opportunity to learn about, to celebrate, and, yes, to be inspired by women's history.

I thank the gentlewoman from New York, Carolyn Maloney, and the gentlewoman from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn, for their continued efforts on behalf of this endeavor.

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