Norton to Testify at House Hearing on Her Women Who Worked on the Home Front World War II Memorial Act and Her Georgetown Waterfront Enslaved Voyages Memorial Act, Tomorrow

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will testify tomorrow, Thursday, October 14, 2021, at a House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands hearing on two of her bills: the Women Who Worked on the Home Front World War II Memorial Act, which would authorize a memorial on federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the 18 million American women who kept the home front running during World War II, and the Georgetown Waterfront Enslaved Voyages Memorial Act, which would authorize the establishment of a memorial on federal land in D.C. to honor enslaved individuals who disembarked at the Georgetown waterfront. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. and can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/user/NaturalResourcesDems.

"Women have largely been ignored in the memorials on federal land in the nation's capital, even though they played key roles in World War II," Norton said. "Thanks to my constituent, Raya Kenney, who came up with the idea to honor the women on the home front who supported the World War II effort. Raya wondered why the women on the home front, whose efforts were critical to the war effort, such as codebreakers and the women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs), who flew military aircraft so men could fly overseas, have not received much recognition for their contributions compared to the men who fought bravely in World War II.

"The enslaved individuals, known and unknown, who disembarked at the Georgetown waterfront after forced migration also rest at the core of our nation's shared history. The atrocities of the system of chattel slavery shed light on our nation's central struggle between slavery and freedom -- a freedom under which some could be owned, beaten, separated from their families, and denied any rights. My Georgetown Waterfront Enslaved Voyages Memorial Act provides for the creation of a powerful marker of truth-telling and remembrance. Let us honor the personhood of these individuals, who were repeatedly assumed to have none, so that they will never be forgotten."

Last Congress, the House passed the Women Who Worked on the Home Front World War II Memorial Act by voice vote. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) is the sponsor of the Senate companion bill.

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