100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, on a Spring day in April 1891 in Lombard, IL, Ellen Martin, an attorney, and 14 other women marched to their voting place at the local general store to do something most of us take for granted today. They demanded to be allowed to vote. The town charter enfranchised all citizens and did not mention sex.
Stunned polling judges were forced to allow Ellen Martin and the 14 to vote. One account had a judge so flabbergasted that he fell into a flour barrel.
But this momentary right to vote was short-lived. The Lombard town council quickly changed the charter to, once again, allow only men to vote, but the spark had been struck. Four months later, the Illinois State charter was changed to allow women to vote in local school elections.
It took 28 years after that day in April for American women to achieve the right to vote. On this 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, we honor Ellen Martin and the countless other supporters of women's suffrage.
Sadly, Ellen Martin died in 1916. She did not live to see the 19th Amendment pass.
The women of my home State of Illinois won limited voting rights in 1913 through the legendary work of Grace Wilbur Trout, Jane Addams, Frances Willard, and countless others. Women had the right to vote only for Presidential electors and most local offices, but not for Governor, State representatives, or Members of Congress.
In Chicago, icon Ida B. Wells-Barnett founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in 1913 to educate African-American women about the right to vote. Their power at the polls helped elect Chicago's first Black alderman, Oscar DePriest, in 1914.
Women continued to organize across the country as many States granted suffrage. Both parties' Presidential candidates endorsed women's suffrage in 1916, and Montana elected Jeannette Rankin to the House of Representatives. There were still many fights ahead, but slowly, the country came around to women's suffrage.
Five years after Illinois gave women the right to vote in some elections, Congress passed the 19th Amendment giving women the right in all elections. This was the same amendment Susan B. Anthony brought to Congress in 1878. More than 70 years after the Seneca Falls Convention, the suffragettes had persevered and succeeded.
I am proud to say Illinois was the first State to ratify the 19th Amendment, but the work is unfinished.
This Congress has the most women in its ranks in the history of the body. The first woman Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi returned to her leadership post with 102 women as her colleagues in the House of Representatives, including Representatives Cheri Bustos, Robin Kelly, Jan Schakowsky, and Lauren Underwood of my home State. I am privileged to work with 25 powerful women Senators, one of whom was the first Senator, Tammy Duckworth, to ever give birth while in office.
The force of history is demanding we do more to make this a fairer and equal country. We have more women in office than ever, and women are 51 percent of the electorate, but less than a third of elected legislative bodies are women. President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963; yet the pay gap between men and women is just as real today as it was then. Women are still earning 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. For women of color, the gap is even greater with African-American women making 64 cents, while Hispanic women make only 56 cents.
State after State are imposing draconian laws on reproductive rights. Roe v. Wade has never been in more danger. We have the duty and privilege of honoring the sacrifice of those who marched for women's suffrage by ensuring their heirs have the right to choose.
As we honor the passage of the 19th Amendment, let's not forget that we are still waiting to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. In 2023, it will be one century since the first version of the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced. Women have waited long enough for its ratification. Our generation must get it done.
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