Good Taste / August 2007
The Road to Women’s Rights
On July 19, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28) introduced the National Women’s Rights History Project Act, a bill designed to provide Americans with the opportunity to learn more about the heroines who fought tirelessly to secure women’s rights in the United States. The introduction of the bill coincided with the 159th anniversary of the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York , which took place July 18, 1848.
According to Senator Clinton, “On this day in 1848, a group of women activists convened the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, the opening salvo of a 72-year struggle for suffrage. The National Women’s Rights History Project Act is a unique opportunity to enhance public awareness and understanding of the impact of the struggle for women’s rights on our lives and our nation. This Act will encourage Americans of all ages to revisit and celebrate the role that women have played in our nation’s history. And by investing in these historic treasures, we can also build on the economic potential of a region where so many momentous events took place.”
The National Women’s Rights History Project Act would establish an auto route linking the New York State sites that were significant to the struggle for women’s suffrage and civil rights. The Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls/Waterloo, the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, the Kate Mullany House in Troy, and twenty other locations would be included. In 1864, Kate Mullany and 200 of her fellow female laborers organized the first women’s labor union in the U.S.
The route would be administered as part of Women’s Rights National Historical Park, and the National Park Service would work to promote historically significant locations along the route. To that end, the Park Service would support the development of a guidebook, a signage system, indoor and outdoor exhibits, and interpretive and educational programs to enrich the visitor’s experience.
The Act would also expand “Places Where Women Made History”, the National Register of Historic Places’ online database dedicated to women’s history. The website currently lists locations of historical importance throughout the United States. Rep. Slaughter and Sen. Clinton’s legislation will support a collaborative effort incorporating the input of state historic preservation offices nationwide so that a more comprehensive listing of women’s history sites can be provided online, along with new and relevant information concerning them.
The Act also would require the Department of Interior to establish a partnership-based network to offer financial and technical assistance for the development of educational programs focused on national women’s rights history.
In her introductory remarks for the bill, Rep. Slaughter said, “Courageous Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott fought tirelessly to achieve equitable rights in America, and their campaign has continued through the generations. We’ve clearly come a long way since Seneca Falls, but we still have a long way to go. We must work to continue the momentum that began there, not only by ensuring that all women vote, but that they do so with an understanding of the long fight to obtain this right and with a sense of responsibility to do their part in the struggle for women’s equality.”
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